ROCHESTER, Mich. – Head coach Brian Nelson and the Oakland Golden Grizzlies baseball team are back on the road for their final regular-season three-game series at Milwaukee, May 14-16. Action kicks off on Thursday, May 14 at 6 p.m. ET at Franklin Park with Scott Warras on the call on ESPN+.
Oakland closed out its home schedule with a high-scoring 13-10 victory over Akron at the Oakland Baseball Field, powered by a career day from junior Ben Clark. Clark finished a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with a home run, two RBIs, five runs scored, and three stolen bases as the Golden Grizzlies erased multiple deficits and exploded for six runs in the sixth inning to take control. Kyle Revere added two hits and two stolen bases, while Lucas Day drove in two runs and Boston Halloran contributed a game-tying RBI single. Oakland also swiped eight bases in the win and received key bullpen outings from Jordan Dahlof, Jaxson Easterlin, and Tanner Ware to secure the victory before heading into its final regular-season series at Milwaukee.
OU topped both in-state Big Ten opponents in midweeks this season for the first time since 2016. The Golden Grizzlies beat Michigan in an exciting comeback, 7-6, on March 24 before taking care of Michigan State in East Lansing, 11-9, on April 9.
The Golden Grizzlies are fourth in the Horizon League with a team batting average of .267, as junior Ben Clark leads OU with a .354 average with 62 hits in 175 plate appearances. From the mound, freshman Ben Green leads the Oakland starters with a 5.87 ERA in 11 appearances, drawing up 34 strikeouts and a win.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Picked right in the middle of the league, head coach Shaun Wegner and the Panthers are 11-10 in conference standings and are set between the no. 2 and 3 seeds in the tournament. Most noted for the series upset over Wright State this season, MKE is led by Dylan O'Connell with 58 hits off of a .337 batting average and Aric Ehmke with a 4.97 ERA from the Panther bullpen.
Oakland went 1-2 in their Horizon League series against the Panthers back in April, opening the weekend with a 12-4 loss despite home runs from Ben Clark and Kyle Revere and a two-RBI double from Carter Hain. Oakland bounced back in game two with a 6-5 victory, evening the series behind a balanced offensive effort and timely pitching to secure its fifth conference win of the season. In the Sunday finale, Milwaukee claimed the series with a 12-0 run-rule win, capitalizing on two home runs and a six-run fifth inning, while Ben Green struck out four over his four innings on the mound for Oakland.
How to Follow Oakland Baseball: For complete information on Oakland Baseball, follow the team on X at @OaklandBSB and head coach Brian Nelson at @CoachNelly11. The team is also on Instagram.
