Oakland Golden Grizzlies (21-22, 10-10) beat Western Michigan 9-4 on Wednesday, May 11, ending a four-game losing streak. This 21st win is the most for the Golden Grizzlies since the 2012 season.

“They came out today loose and really played well,” Oakland head coach John Musachio said in the post-game GrizzVision interview with Dan Gliot. “And I think that four spot in the first inning was just huge for guys to relax and play ball.”

Ryan Fitzgerald led off the first inning with a single and Zach Sterry followed with another. Mike Brosseau walked to load the bases. Tyler Pagano walked to score a run.

Ian Yetsko took the opportunity to hit a one-run single down the left side. Ben Hart had a sac fly and Brett Impemba laid down a sacrifice bunt that scored another run. Oakland led 4-0 after one inning.

The Broncos responded in the third with a double and a single and two runs. Oakland still up 4-2.

Western scored one more time in the fourth to cut Oakland’s lead down to one. In the bottom of the inning, Oakland scored three more runs to put their lead to 7-3.

Oakland scored in the sixth and the eighth and entered the ninth inning with a 9-4 lead.

The Golden Grizzlies kept the Broncos from making a comeback and called Nate Green in to pitch the final inning. He had one strikeout and got two batters to ground out to close the game.

Spotlight stats

Chris Van Dyke, who had pitched 20 innings and had an ERA of 2.70, started the game and got his second win for Oakland.

“Fastball out seemed to work the most,” Van Dyke said. “Changeup depending on the inning, besides that most of it was kind of all over the place.”

Van Dyke pitched six innings, allowed five hits and now has an ERA of 2.77.

Catcher Ian Yetsko threw out two runners at second, one in the first inning and one in the third.

Tyler Pagano batted 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs.

Zach Sterry batted 2-for-3 with two runs.

Yetsko batted 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Ben Hart and Brett Impemba batted 1-for-3 and had two RBIs.

Oakland plays a home doubleheader versus University of Illinois at Chicago at noon and 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 14.