The Oakland Golden Grizzlies baseball team (11-40, 5-19 Horizon) closed out the regular season with a three-game road sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Panthers.
Although the series loss doesn’t change Oakland’s place in the Horizon League standings, it sets the stage for which opponent the Golden Grizzlies will face to start off the Horizon League Baseball Championship.
Game 1: Oakland 11, Milwaukee 12
After leading for most of the game, the Golden Grizzlies succumbed to a final-inning Milwaukee rally before falling in extra innings.
Milwaukee struck first in game one. With two runners aboard, Dominic Kibler lined a two-run single to left field, pushing across Charlie Marion and Dylan O’Connell, to give Milwaukee an early 2-0 lead.
Oakland answered with four runs in the second inning, highlighted by a three-RBI double from Ben Clark, before Jack Lux added a sacrifice fly in the third to extend the lead to 5-2.
After both teams scored a run in the fifth, Milwaukee tied the game in the sixth behind a four-hit, three-run inning highlighted by an RBI ground-rule double from Marion.
Following the Panthers’ rally, Oakland recovered in the top of the seventh. A solo home run from Lux gave the Golden Grizzlies the lead back, and a two-RBI single from Lucas Day extended the Oakland lead to 9-6.
Milwaukee answered in the bottom of the seventh with a two-RBI double from Joey Spence, cutting into the Oakland lead. Oakland responded immediately, as a Day single brought home two runners, keeping the Golden Grizzlies ahead, 11-8.
Down to its final out in the ninth with two runners on, Marion delivered a game-tying three-run homer to send the game to extra innings.
After a scoreless 10th inning, a pair of walks in the 11th inning put the Panthers in a prime position to take the series opener. With O’Connell up to bat, he delivered the game-winning RBI single to give Milwaukee a hard-fought win.
Game 2: Oakland 4, Milwaukee 8
Despite out-hitting Milwaukee, the Golden Grizzlies struggled to capitalize offensively, as Milwaukee secured both the series and game two.
Kibler opened the scoring for the Panthers, sending one over the fence in the first inning for a two-run home run to put Milwaukee up 2-0. Oakland answered in the third when Kyle Revere’s sacrifice bunt brought home Nick Marids.
Milwaukee added to its lead in the bottom of the third, courtesy of Grant Ross, who connected for a solo home run. Aidan Schuck responded for the Golden Grizzlies in the following inning with an RBI single to make it a 3-2 ball game.
From the sixth through the seventh inning, both teams went back and forth, trading runs. Oakland matched Milwaukee run-for-run, despite never catching the Milwaukee lead, as the Panthers still led 6-4 heading into the eighth inning.
Even after matching Milwaukee through the middle innings, the Oakland offense failed to score any runs in the eighth inning. As for Milwaukee, a two-RBI single from Marion added insurance in the eighth inning to give the Panthers their largest lead of the game at 8-4.
With a final chance to close the deficit at the top of the ninth, the Golden Grizzlies came up short despite opening the inning with a double from Mardis, clinching the series for Milwaukee.
Game 3: Oakland 8, Milwaukee 14
In the series finale, Milwaukee’s offense overwhelmed Oakland from the start, as the Panthers scored in every inning except for the eighth inning, earning 16 hits in 28 at-bats.
Milwaukee struck first once again, as a wild Oakland pitch allowed Ross to score the game’s first run before another wild pitch pushed across O’Connell to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead at the end of the first inning.
Looking for a response, the Golden Grizzlies found one. With two runners on, Boston Halloran sent both of them home with a two-RBI double to tie up the game in the bottom of the second. Halloran later stole home to give Oakland a 3-2 lead, its only lead of the game.
Despite a promising inning from Oakland, the Golden Grizzlies couldn’t put a stop to the Milwaukee offense from that point on, as the Panthers added a pair of runs in the second and third innings before adding three runs in the fourth, jumping ahead of Oakland 9-3.
Although Oakland faced a rather large deficit to make up, the Golden Grizzlies stayed competitive midway through the game, adding two runs in the fifth with consecutive RBI singles from Sam Griffith and Tony Konopiots, and another run in the sixth with Carter Hain scoring on a wild pitch.
Still, Oakland had no answer for Milwaukee’s offense, spearheaded once again by Marion, who recorded three hits, including a home run, and four RBIs to give Milwaukee the series sweep over the Golden Grizzlies.
On Deck
Up next, Oakland opens Horizon League Championship play on Wednesday, May 20, hosted by the regular-season leaders, Wright State.
As the conference’s last-place team, Oakland will face the No. 4 seed Youngstown State Penguins on May 20 at 5 p.m. The loser of the matchup will be eliminated from the tournament, while the winner will go on to play the No. 1 Wright State Raiders on May 21 at 3 p.m.
Looking at Youngstown State, they finished their season with a 15-38 overall record and a 12-12 conference record. The Penguins are 2-4 against the Golden Grizzlies this season, losing a series to Oakland back in March before sweeping Oakland at the Oakland Baseball Field in April.
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