For much of the season, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies have found themselves at the basement of the six team Horizon League standings. Following the most successful stretch in recent program history that included three straight conference winning seasons, and two conference championship game appearances, this year has been a disappointment overall.
But all is not lost on the 2025 season. The Golden Grizzlies have begun to play better ball as of late, going 6-7 in their last 13 and 4-4 in their last eight conference games. This has brought them to within a half game of finally climbing out the bottom of the league, as their 8-19 conference record is just behind 8-18 Purdue Fort Wayne.
A three-game home series is Oakland’s last chance to make a last ditch effort to climb up the table, and coming into to town is the second place Milwaukee Panthers. Milwaukee is trying to hold onto the a top two seed that would reward them with a first place bye in the Horizon League Tournament.
While Oakland tussles with the Panthers, the Purdue Fort Wayne team they are trying to chase down will take on first place Wright State in Fort Wayne. The Raiders are 23-4, and have a seven and a half game lead on Milwaukee.
With a brutal challenge ahead for the Mastodons, it may only take one win for Oakland to secure the 5th seed in bracket play.
The race for fifth place may not seem like too big of a deal given the fact that all six teams will be a part of tournament play in Dayton next week, but there are reasons why it matters.
The first reason would be getting rid of the the mental burden being the worst seed could have. Oakland has heard all season long that they are the bottom, and with a first year head coach who is trying to earn his chance at keeping the job permanently, staying out of the cellar wouldn’t hurt.
There are actual baseball reasons however. The fifth seed would avoid the worse of Northern Kentucky and Milwaukee, who both will finish with winning league records, and instead face off with likely four seed Youngstown State who is 11-16 in league play, only three games clear of Oakland.
The second reason would be that as the five seed, there is an off chance that with a win you could avoid one seed Wright State in the second round. With the reseeding on teams after the first round, if the six seed were too also pull of the upset, they would be locked into a date with the Raiders. Staying away from Wright State for as long as possible could be the key to having a chance to scrapping your way all the way through the double elimination bracket.
Oakland’s series with Milwaukee is slated for Thursday through Saturday, with Thursday’s first pitch slated for 3pm Eastern Time, Friday’s game is scheduled to go at 2pm Eastern Time, with the finale on Saturday locked in for 1pm Eastern Time. Barring unforeseen schedule changes, we will know the bracket by Saturday night. Buckle up!
