For a mid major baseball team in the northern part of the country, this is nothing new. You get used to life on the road.
The Oakland Golden Grizzlies certainly can attest to that. After starting the year off with 22 games away from home, taking on schools such as Louisville and Michigan State in the non con, while starting off league play making the hardest trip in the conference at perennial power Wright State. The Golden Grizzlies went through that stretch and finished 3-19.
But alas, home sweet home was calling.
The home opener brought conference foe Northern Kentucky in. Ace Hunter Pidek got the ball rolling on the mound, and gave the Golden Grizzlies a chance, striking out five over five innings, allowing three runs.
However, Oakland was down 6-4 heading to the bottom of the ninth. That’s when the bats really go going.
Oakland snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, scoring three runs in the bottom of the final frame, to get in the win column in conference play. Catcher Matthew McGann played the role of hero, as his RBI single served as the winner.
With a win under their belt, Oakland then took home a 10-0 win over the Norse behind six scoreless innings from freshman Grant Garman, resulting in their first series win of the season. They dropped game three to move to 2-4 in Horizon League play.
The Golden Grizzlies stayed at home for two games in the middle of the week too. The first game of the week was a rematch with Akron, who beat Oakland weeks before at Akron.
The bats were alive early, as Oakland used three triples from McGann, Carter Hain and Jack Lux in the first inning to storm out to a 4-1 lead. A pitch by committee effort controlled the rest of the affair, and Oakland took home an 8-2 win.
Oakland’s fourth win in five tries seemed like it may come easy, with non D1 opponent Clearly coming in.
It was anything but.
A back and forth affair was broken open by Cleary in the 7th inning, and the Golden Grizzlies went from tied at 5 to down by four runs. Cleary faced off against Central Michigan earlier in the season and lost by one run, and they were up to the task against another D1 opponent.
That score held until the bottom of the ninth, where Trent Rice led off the inning with a double. Taylor Tomlin and John Lauinger combined to score Rice, then Brandon Nigh got an RBI to make it 9-7.
A few batters later with two outs, freshman Boston Halloran provided the walk off winner. The Golden Grizzlies won 10-9.
In year one of the Brian Nelson era, wins should be celebrated, and as the Golden Grizzlies get into the portion of the schedule that really matters, securing victories in four of their last five is a good step forward.
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