The Oakland Post

Grizzlies turn the corner with strong finish

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They went down swinging.

That description, perhaps more than any other, sums up the Golden Grizzlies on the baseball field this spring. A 20-6 loss to South Dakota State in the Summit League Tournament marked the official end of the 2010 baseball season for Oakland, but it also capped a progressive step forward for the program.

This season, the Golden Grizzlies (23-34) suffered a stretch of 15 losses in a 17-game span. They also won a school-record eight straight and used a five-game win streak to close out the regular season and secure a spot in the Summit League Tournament for the first time since 2006.

 ”The progress we made this year was critical,” Oakland coach John Musachio said, after reflecting on the entirety of the season. “We’re trying to build a program here and not a season and to do that you have to develop the right culture and attitude. For our guys to have the resilience they had this year tells us everything we need to know about the future of this group.”

Oakland’s resilience was tested often this season. Injuries mounted, as did potentially deflating defeats.

 Prior to its five-game win streak at the end of the season, OU lost three in a row to IPFW. The Grizzlies had to win the rest of their games and get some help from other teams in the league just to qualify for the fourth and final spot in the league tournament. 

Oakland claimed a 5-1 lead on No. 1 seed South Dakota State in the first game of the postseason before losing 6-5 in extra innings. That loss was answered the following day with a 7-2 win over Centenary before losing the rematch with the Jackrabbits in the double- elimination tournament.

“Towards the end of the year we hit a point where we stopped playing like we had everything to lose and started playing like we had nothing to lose,” Musachio said. 

“A goal of ours at the start of the year was to make the Summit League Tournament and it wasn’t easy. We had four of our top pitchers out this year and just one senior on the team so we were led by a younger group of guys. Having achieved a goal we set out at the start of the year gives us confidence and our players now believe that they belong and that’s the biggest piece.”

Six position players finished with a batting average above .300, led by junior Tommy Jablonski at .364. Sophomore Aaron Cieslak accounted for the second most runs, hitting seven home runs for a total of 39 RBI. He finished with a .320 average. 

Sophomore Kyle Teague served as the ace of a depleted pitching staff and tallied a record of 5-6 with an ERA of 5.11. Junior Mark Leichtman pitched well in relief, collecting three wins and five saves with an ERA of 4.31.

“Our guys are really tough kids and they want to win and now they have the experience of becoming leaders and playing in high pressure situations,” Musachio said. “Our goal every year is to make the Summit League Tournament and give ourselves a chance and from what I saw from our team this year I know they’re not going to settle for anything less. We’ve got almost everybody coming back next year and a strong recruiting class joining us so our whole team is thinking ‘next level’ baseball right now.”

Catcher Brett Geschke was the lone senior on the team.