Believe it or not, the college baseball season has begun. Yes, the snow drifts may be waist-high in Rochester, Michigan, and yes, the temperatures might be struggling to top 25 degrees.
But America’s past time is back and in full swing. To start the 2025 campaign, the Oakland men’s baseball team traveled to Jacksonville, Alabama, to take on the Jacksonville State University Gamecocks.
The series began last Friday, Feb. 14, with a doubleheader on Valentine’s Day. Lefty senior Hunter Pidek earned the first start of the season, but he faced a tumultuous beginning to his final season wearing black and gold. Pidek let up five runs in the first two innings and greatly struggled with his control early in the game. He walked two batters and hit another four in the first two frames.
OU wouldn’t get on the board until the fifth inning when right fielder Aidan Orr roped a double to right field to drive in designated hitter Ben Clark. Junior Cecil Barone would be the first out of the bullpen for the Golden Grizzlies, relieving Pidek after five innings of work. He would also struggle against the Gamecocks, allowing three runs between the fifth and sixth innings.
Finally, late in the game, Oakland was able to tack on some runs. Sophomore center fielder Trent Rice tripled with two men on to bring the score closer at 3-9. Catcher Matthew McGann finished the Golden Grizzlies’ scoring for the first game with a two-RBI single. Oakland would lose their season-opener 5-9.
Just a few hours later, the two teams took to the diamond again, this time with freshman Grant Garman starting on the mound. The Golden Grizzlies would strike first blood this time around; with two men out, shortstop Brandon Nigh drew a walk, followed by first baseman Lucas Day’s RBI double.
JSU would answer in the second inning to tie the game, but Day was just beginning his day. In his next at-bat in the fourth inning, the redshirt sophomore cranked a home run on a 3-0 pitch, giving Oakland their first lead of the series. OU would add on two more runs in the inning as Clark again made his presence felt. The catcher hit a single for the scorebook but came all the way home on an error by the Gamecocks.
Later on in the sixth inning, designated hitter Jack Lux connected with a pitch to send it deep over the fence, giving Oakland their second homer of the evening. It was a terrific day for the redshirt junior, who finished his day with a home run, two walks and two RBIs.
The Gamecocks managed to get two runs in the sixth to make it a 6-3 ball game, but the Golden Grizzlies erupted in the seventh inning for five more runs. The scoring came on a string of errors from the Jacksonville State defense, as they let up three unearned runs and a score off a wild pitch.
Orr and Day both finished with two RBIs to go along with Lux’s two as Oakland finished off an 11-4 victory. Freshman pitcher Garman Grant also had a terrific first start, wrapping up his day with five innings pitched, four hits, one run allowed, six strikeouts and three walks.
Unfortunately, Oakland’s bats were nowhere to be found for the series’ final two games. The very next day, OU was shut out 0-12. They managed seven hits and three walks sprinkled across nine innings but couldn’t string together any successful at-bats. Rice and McGann each had a pair of hits for the Golden Grizzlies.
Freshmen starter Brody Fahnestock got roughed up in his first career start as a Golden Grizzly. He surrendered five runs and five hits in only 3.1 innings, but the bullpen didn’t fare much better. The only pitcher who didn’t allow a run was redshirt sophomore Ryan Donley, who pitched one clean inning.
In the final game of the series, OU put up a much better fight, at least until the halfway point in the game. Starting pitcher Tanner Ware got through his first four innings with no runs before the Gamecocks got to him in the fifth for two runs (one unearned). He did walk five batters, but the damage was minimal.
If the Golden Grizzlies could’ve hung some runs up on the board, it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but the Oakland bats were again silent all game. Left fielder John Lauinger was the lone bright spot on the team. He finished with three singles in his four at-bats. However, no one else could manage to manufacture any sort of momentum.
The bullpen would surrender four more runs as JSU’s Drew Collins wreaked havoc. The left fielder for the Gamecocks finished with three hits and two RBIs, going 6-14 with three walks in the series. Props is due to Jacksonville State’s pitching staff, as well. They kept OU off the board in two straight games, no small feat. The final score stood at 0-6 JSU.
Next up for Oakland is a trip to McNeese State University in Louisiana on Friday, Feb. 21 for a three-game series.
