ROCHESTER, Mich. - The Golden Grizzlies won its first home Horizon League series as it defeated the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons, 8-5, this afternoon on the Oakland Baseball Field.
 
The Golden Grizzlies (18-17, 9-6 HL) saw eight batters record at least a hit as four of the eight recorded multi-hit days. Carter Hain led Oakland with a pair of RBI as Lucas Day and Ian Cleary added the sole extra base hits on the day with a double each. Brandon Decker led off the mound with a handful of strikeouts in six innings pitched.
 
The Mastodons (13-22, 7-8 HL) saw seven batters record a hit as Jacob Walker led the day with three and led his team with a pair of RBI.
 
The Golden Grizzlies defense stepped up early as the Mastodons had a runner 90 feet from the plate with no outs, but an infield pop up, followed by a laser pick off from Brandon Heidal, was capped by a groundout to leave the Mastodons scoreless. Oakland's offense came out strong as well as Ian Cleary smacked a double to advance himself and John Lauinger, who was walked, into scoring position. A Carter Hain single brought in the two runners as Brandon Nigh was close behind as he found home off a pickoff towards first to put the team up, 3-0.
 
It wasn't until the fifth where Purdue Fort Wayne got on the board as it brought home a run, but a diving ground out fielded by Nigh saved the team from giving up any more as it remained ahead, 3-1. The Golden Grizzlies looked to attack as it loaded up the bases in the fifth and converted two runs, courtesy of a Trent Rice sacrifice fly and a Nigh single.
 
The team added on another par the following inning as Lucas Day grabbed a single to bring in Aidan Orr, followed up by a Heidal single as Hain raced from second to home to make it 7-1. The Mastodons answered, however, with a trio of runs to put itself back into the game with six more outs to work with. Purdue Fort Wayne grabbed one more run before its final at-bat to make it a 7-5 game after the top of the eighth.
 
The team added an insurance run in the eighth as Sam Griffith brought in Gavin Arseneau who pinch ran for Lucas Day who led off with a double. The Golden Grizzlies needed three outs to take the game and Reggie Bussey made a big one as he tracked down a long ball and robbed a home run. The team followed suit and grabbed the final two outs to take the win, 8-5.
 
Oakland tallied 13 hits and left six runners stranded, while the Mastodons grabbed 10 hits and left nine runs on the base pads. The Golden Grizzlies led on the bump with six strikeouts as the Mastodons tallied three.
 
The Golden Grizzlies return to the diamond Wednesday (April 17) against Akron, with first pitch set for 2:30 p.m.