The End of Purdue Fort Wayne Baseball | Season Recap and History of the Program

The day that all mid-to-low major programs fear and dread unfortunately became a reality for yet another Horizon League institution on Friday. Purdue University Fort Wayne (PFW) followed the footsteps of Cleveland State University with the discontinuation of the softball and baseball programs – though the baseball program survived 14 years after the termination of the Vikings’ baseball program. PFW announced the immediate discontinuation of both programs as part of a $6 million budget reduction across the university. In addition to approximately 45 employees being let go, the athletic department was responsible for a budget reduction of approximately $1 million annually.

Athletic director Kelley Hartley Hutton said that Friday was “one of the saddest days” in her 25 years in various roles at Purdue Fort Wayne. She continued by reiterating that, “[The decision] was not made lightly, and [Purdue Fort Wayne Athletics] are committed to supporting those affected though this transition” (gomastodons.com). Some of those commitments include all student-athlete scholarships will continue to be honored for those baseball and softball student-athletes who decide not to go portaling. For those who wish to enjoy the new normal of collegiate sports in the portal, support and guidance on navigating the portal will be provided. As with other sports, the student-athletes who choose to transfer to a new institution will be immediately eligible to participate next season.

The university will now be home to 14 Division I programs, and the Horizon League will be left with 5 schools in baseball (Wright State, Northern Kentucky, Milwaukee, Youngstown State, and Oakland) and 7 schools in softball (Robert Morris, IU Indy, Northern Kentucky, Green Bay, Oakland, Detroit Mercy, and Youngstown State) until the addition of Northern Illinois in the fall of 2026.

In a two-part feature, the past season for each program will be recapped and their lore and records will be retold in true “gone, but not forgotten” fashion.

The Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodon baseball team finished their 2025 campaign with an overall record of 11-41 and a last place Horizon League finish of 9-20. The season started in mid-February in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where the Mastodons would take on #2 Louisiana State University (LSU) in a three game series. After stops at Austin Peay, Southeastern Missouri, Tennessee Tech, Ball State, Northern Kentucky, Bowling Green State University, and Youngstown State, the Mastodons made their first home appearance of the season at Mastodon Field against Toledo on March 25. During the first stretch of the season, the Mastodons often found themselves on the wrong side of explosive bats or tightly contested games.

Headlined by 4 one-run game defeats, including an 18-19 heartbreaker against Bowling Green and a 1-2 pitchers’ duel loss to Tennessee Tech in extra innings, the Mastodons sometimes seemed one piece away from turning the corner or righting the ship. However, other games like the 3-19 loss to SEMO or the 5-20 loss in 7 innings to Northern Kentucky could leave a Mastodon fan wondering what the rest of the season had in store for the squad.

The Mastodons would get a glimmer of hope in their first home Horizon League of the season when they would break out the brooms and sweep the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies in a 3 game series – each by 1 run and the first two games on walk-off hits by Brooks Sailors and Nick Hockemeyer.

Unfortunately for the Mastodons, this would be the only series sweep on the year and the first of only two series wins for PFW – both at the expense of Oakland. Other games throughout the year brought some eyes to the squad from around the league, from other conferences, and even national attention thanks to a repost from the MLB social media account across various platforms.

On April 22, the Mastodons traveled north to East Lansing, Michigan where they would face Michigan State. Unfortunately for the Spartans, the Mastodons had a track record of success against the Big Ten in recent years. In 2022, PFW would defeat the University of Michigan by a score of 6-3. The following year, Michigan State would face defeat at the hands (feet?) of the Mastodons by a score of 3-2. Last season in 2024, the Mastodons would defeat in-state and #20 nationally ranked opponent Indiana University 9-6. This year, the Spartans fell victim once again 10-1 to give the Mastodons their 4th straight season with a victory over a Big Ten opponent.

In national news, the Mastodons defeated the Wright State Raiders on May 15 by a score of 21-17. Though scoring 21 runs as a team, including 11 runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win could very well warrant national attention, the individual box score of sophomore Justin Osterhouse is the greatest individual statistical game in Purdue Fort Wayne history and could very well go down in history as the greatest individual performance in NCAA history across all divisions. Osterhouse would be the last batter of the game as he would wallop an 0-1 pitch over the left field wall for a walk-off grand slam. How could this game get any better? Maybe the fact that this was Osterhouse’s fourth homerun of the game? Osterhouse became the first (and unfortunately probably last) Mastodon to hit four homeruns in a single game. He also set a school record with 17 total bases. The 17th base came thanks to a hit by pitch that also gave him another RBI. His eight RBIs tied a Division I school record. Oh yeah – did I also mention that Osterhouse was the winning pitcher? Thanks to a scoreless top of the ninth inning in his second ever career appearance, Osterhouse earned his first collegiate pitching win to cap off a true video-game like night.

Osterhouse Final Stats in 21-17 Win Over Wright State:

5-of-6

4 HR (2-run, Solo, Solo, Walk-Off Grand Slam), 1 1B

5 Runs

1 Stolen Base

1 Hit by Pitch

1.0 Innings Pitched, 0 Hits, 0 Runs, Win

The Mastodons would end their season by losing their first two games in the Horizon League tournament held at Wright State. In the morning session, the Mastodons would fall to the Milwaukee Panthers. The Panthers would continue to win against #2 seed Northern Kentucky and #1 seed Wright State to earn a berth in the Horizon League Championship Game.

The last game for the Mastodons would be an 8-13 defeat to the Youngstown State Penguins. Sophomore Kevin Hall will hold the distinction of having the last homerun hit by a Mastodon for the time being with his solo shot to left field in the 7th inning of the game. The last RBI for the Mastodons belongs to Grant Sawa by taking a hit by pitch to score Camden Karczewski.

On the season, the Mastodons recorded a team batting average of .266. The pitching staff earned a combined ERA of 8.97. The Mastodons had a .958 fielding percentage as a team and had 265 RBIs, 476 sacrifice hits, and hit 40 home runs in 1790 at-bats on the season.

Season’s End Individual Stat Leaders

Batting Average:

1. Justin Osterhouse, .328
2. Camden Karczewzki, .324
3. Kevin Hall, .298

Hits:

1. Justin Osterhouse, 64
2. Camden Karczewski, 60
3. Kevin Hall, 54

Home Runs:

1. Justin Osterhouse, 16
2. Kevin Hall, 5
3. Brooks Sailors, 4
4. Jackson Micheels, 4

Runs Batted In:

1. Justin Osterhouse, 46
2. Jackson Micheels, 33
3. Camden Karczewski, 28
4. Kevin Hall,28

Walks:

1. Brooks Sailors, 44
2.  Justin Osterhouse, 31
3.  Jackson Micheels, 22

Wins:

1.  Aidan Pearson, 3 *
2.  Cole Newell, 2 *
3.  Trent Murphy, 2 *

* Did not meet the minimum requirements of 2 PA/G and 75% of games played.

ERA:

1.  Zane Danielson, 5.82
2.  Dillion Fischer, 7.41

History of Purdue Fort Wayne Baseball

The then IPFW baseball team took the field for the first time in 1970 as a part of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference under head coach Larry Windmiller. The first game of the program featured a game between IPFW and now NAIA member Huntington University (Ind.). Huntington University won the game by a score of 4-2. The program’s first win came against Glen Oaks Community College located 30 minutes north of Shipshewana, Indiana. After wins against Trine University, Marian University, Bible College, and Saint Francis University (Pa.), the Mastodons would end their first official season with a record of 8-6.

IPFW’s first season in NCAA Division I as an Independent School was in 2002. The team finished with a 19-24 record, going 6-6 at home, 11-11 in true away games, and 2-7 in neutral site contests. David Zachary was the offensive leader for the Mastodons in the innagural Division I season. Zachary slashed a .319 average with 7 doubles, 1 triple, and 2 home runs. Rich Hale led the Mastodons with 82 total bases thanks to his team leading 9 home runs. The top pitcher of the season was Kellen Marshall. Marshall recorded a 4.66 ERA in 77.1 innings pitched en route to a team high 6 wins. Highlight wins included an 11-7 victory over future Horizon League member Valparaiso and an 18-4 victory over current Horizon League foe Wright State.

IPFW’s first season in an NCAA Division I conference as a member of the Summit League was in 2008. The team went 14-36-1 overall and 10-17 in the conference. The rare tie in baseball came on March 7, 2008 when the Mastodons and the Western Michigan Broncos faced off in Bradenton, Florida at the IMG Academy. The game ended in a 1-1 tie after 12 innings called on account of darkness. The Mastodons would play 10 games at the IMG Academy in a span of a week, going 2-7-1 during that stretch. IPFW would win their first Summit League game by defeating Southern Utah 21-13 on April 3, 2008. They would bow out of the season after losing 4 straight games to Oral Roberts. Chris Gottschall batted a team leading .330 average. Shaun VanDriessche led the team in total bases (87), RBIs (40), and homeruns (9) that season. Brandon Knowling had an excellent year on the mound. Knowling would post a 2.91 ERA in 68.0 innings earning him a 7-1 record.

The first Horizon League season for the newly named Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons happened in the spring of 2021, one year removed from the global pandemic. The Mastodons would finish the season with an overall record of 11-35 and a conference record of 8-28. The conference record would earn Purdue Fort Wayne the lowest conference standing it ever held while in the Horizon League at 7th mostly in part to the fact that the University of Illinois Chicago left after the 2022 season, leaving Horizon League baseball with the same 6 remaining schools before the announcement from Purdue Fort Wayne.

The Mastodons would finish in last place of the Horizon League 3 times in its 5 years as member of the conference. The highest finish for the Mastodons was in 2022 where a 13-15 conference record was good enough for 4th place in the conference over the likes of Milwaukee (9-17), Northern Kentucky (11-17), and Youngstown State (12-16). The last winning season for the Mastodons was in 2016 (33-26) under head coach Bobby Pierce. Pierce is the winningest coach in program history with 192 wins over his 11 seasons as the skipper for the Mastodons. The Mastodons have never had a winning conference record in Division 1, and the last conference winning record was in 1995 (10-8) in Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference. The program has only seen 11 winning seasons in the 55 seasons in school history. 1973 did not have statistics available. Should this be the end, the Mastodons finish with a program record of 644-1,185-3 (.352).

All Time Career Individual Stat Leaders (At the conclusion of the 2024 season)

Batting Average (min. 160 AB):

1. Mark Vance, .394, 1994-95
2. Terry Johnson, .387, 1997
3. Rico Martin, .365, 1996-99

Hits:

1. Brandon Soat, 222, 2013-16
2. Shane Trevino, 218, 2012-16
3. Ryan Keena, 199, 2003-06

Home Runs:

1. Shaun VanDriessche, 38, 2007-10
2. Greg Kaiser, 35, 2013-16
3. Ben Higgins, 29, 2022-24

Runs Batted In:

1. Shane Trevino, 154, 2012-16
2. Shaun VanDriessche, 137, 2007-10
3. Greg Kaiser, 130, 2013-16

Walks:

1. Shannon Baker, 131, 2014-18
2. Malcolm White, 110, 2011-14
3. Shane Trevino, 101, 2012-16

Wins:

1. David Zachary, 15, 2002-05
2. Steve Danielak, 13, 2011-14
3. Travis Bradford, 13, 1993-96
4. Daniel Matthews, 13, 1997-98
5. Jason Horvath, 13, 2001-04

Saves:

1. Jake Weber, 22, 2015-17
2. Doug McDonald, 10, 2001-04
3. Connor Lawhead, 9, 2013-14

ERA (min. 30 IP):

1. Dan Currie, 2.49, 1977-78
2. Gary Drake, 2.49, 1976-77
3. Rick Stevens, 2.80, 1980

Strikeouts:

1. Justin Miller, 227, 2019-23
2. Jason Horvath, 210, 2001-04
3. Samuel Walker, 179, 2008-11