Baseball Earns No. 5 Seed and First Round Matchup with No. 4 Seed Youngstown State in #HLBASE Championship

ROCHESTER, Mich. - The Golden Grizzlies are set for their first matchup of the 2025 Horizon League Championship, earning the fifth seed and punching their ticket for a matchup with the number four seed Youngstown State (YSU) in their first game of the tournament.

Oakland is coming off a confidence-building series win over Milwaukee. Winning the first two games of the three-game series, the Golden Grizzlies dominated on both ends of the field, batting .295 as a team in their pair of wins, while allowing a combined seven runs.

The Golden Grizzlies and the Penguins have traded heavy blows throughout their six matchups in the regular season. Oakland has only won two of those matchups, but both wins came by a margin of ten runs, in a 15-5 victory in seven innings on Apr. 6, and a 13-3 win on May 9.

In those two wins Oakland is batting a scorching .387 from the plate with 10 extra base hits and two home runs.

Despite just three conference series wins, Oakland is an extremely dangerous squad in any one game situation. The Golden Grizzlies have finished 17 games decided by one run, showing that they have consistently been often one play away from victories, and with momentum building going into the championship, they are viable to start taking advantage of those game-winning shifts.

Both teams have high-powered bats, ranking third in total hits (497) in the Horizon League. Oakland's trio of .300 batters with John Lauinger (.351), Matt McGann (.339), and Taylor Tomlin (.329) have been on fire as of late. Jack Lux, Carter Hain, and Brandon Nigh all have tallied four or more homers on the season, adding an element of power to Oakland's speedy squad.

The Penguins, who own the league's third best batting average (.277) and second most home runs (70), led by Kyle Fossum (.382) and his league-high 22 home runs. They also have Tommy Rover (.333) who ranks second on the Penguins in almost every hitting category.

Where the Golden Grizzlies have the clear advantage is on the mound, where Oakland holds the league's third lowest ERA (7.47) compared to The Penguins league-worst 9.78 ERA. YSU has given up double-digit runs 32 times this season, struggling to contain opposing offenses if their own isn't firing on all cylinders.

Oakland's dynamic duo of aces in Hunter Pidek (6.78 ERA) and Grant Garman (5.67 ERA) both rank in the top ten in almost every pitching category in the conference, striking out a high-number of batters and helping Oakland stay in and win games when the offense isn't churning.

Golden Grizzlies and Penguins will square off on Wednesday, May 21 at 3 p.m. in Dayton, Oh. for the chance to move one step closer to the conference championship game.

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