In a tough series versus the Indiana University Southeast Grenadiers, Oakland City was not able to come out on top once. With the three loses, the overall record is now 28-13, while the River States Conference record is 11-7.
Game 1
Under the Friday night lights, the Mighty Oaks looked at an early 0-2 deficit in the first inning. Oakland City struggled at the plate until the bottom of the fourth.
Leyton Ivers got on base after a dropped third strike,
Aron Busick followed with a bunt single and
Noah Baugher singled to load the bases. A sacrifice fly from
Fred Fernandez brought home a run.
Oliver Hamilton followed with a deep fly to left field that left the yard to put Oakland City on top, 4-2.
Indiana University Southeast answered in a big way in the next inning. Seven Grenadier runs were scored in the top of the fifth. The Mighty Oaks stayed silent on offense, as IU Southeast was able to add two more runs. The final score ended up being 4-11 on Friday night.
Oakland City's starting pitcher,
Thomas King went four innings, gave up four hits, seven runs (five earned), while walking five and striking out five. Four relief pitchers were used, as
Owen Spears (2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO),
Weston Allen (1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO),
Milan van der Breggen (1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO) and
Christian Burgrabe (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) came in out of the bullpen.
Game 2
A day later, the start of the game looked very promising.
Aron Busick and
Fred Fernandez went yard to put Oakland City on top, 2-0 was the score after the first inning. This was the only offense that Oakland City produced throughout the game, while the Grenadiers scored in six of the nine innings played. The final score in game two of the series was 2-10.
Gehrig Tenhumberg started for Oakland City, his statline was L, 4.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO. His relievers were
Kiefer Parsons (0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO),
Cole Lambird (2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO) and
Dax Bailey (1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO).
The Mighty Oaks severely struggled in this game, not being able to create much offense and making five errors in the game. Things needed to change quickly in order to have a chance in game three.
Game 3
The defense figured some things out in the last game of the series, but the offense wasn't able to get more than three hits and one run. Indiana University Southeast got ahead 0-2 in the fourth inning and grew their lead to 0-3 in the sixth. The Mighty Oaks scored in the bottom of the sixth and had the tying runs on base, but were not able to capitalize.
Benjamen Simmons (L, 5.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) started on the bump for the Mighty Oaks and
Evan Price (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) came in out of the bullpen.
If the weather allows, the Mighty Oaks will host the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy on Tuesday. During the weekend, IUPU Columbus will make the trip to Oakland City for a three-game River States Conference series. On Saturday April 13, the 2024 Senior Class will be recognized in between game one and two of the doubleheader.
