HAMMOND, Ind. - The newcomers to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference met for the first time on the baseball diamond on Friday with Davenport defeating Purdue Northwest, 13-3, to begin the four-game series. It was a high-scoring game with nine runs in the first inning as the Panthers led 6-3. After that it was all DU as they cruised to the 10-run margin of victory.

The Panthers (27-17, 17-8 GLIAC) won for the fifth straight time to match their longest win streak of the season. They jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning as Austin Petravicius delivered the biggest hit with a grand slam to right field for a 4-0 lead. Andrew Figueroa answered that a few batters later with a two-RBI single as DU sent 10 men to the plate and scored all six runs with two outs.

Grant Wolfram coming off a no-hitter against Ashland a week ago, did not start strong giving up three runs in the bottom of the first. It started well with a pair of outs but then the Pride smacked four straight hits including RBI for Jacob Lane, Evan Finke and Tyler Kenjic. Lane had a double and Kenjic delivered a triple to cut the deficit in half.

Davenport added to their lead with a run in the fifth as Brian Sobieski hit a leadoff home run, his 12th of the season. He now is tied for second-most in a season at DU. The Panthers started putting the game away with four runs in the top of the sixth. Nolan Bryant had a RBI single and Zac Wilson followed with a RBI double. Sobieski singled home a run and Jacob Buchberger had a RBI double to left.

Wolfram pitched five scoreless innings after the first and finished with six innings to get the win (6-3). He posted his fifth straight 10-strikeout performance finishing with 11 punchouts and allowed two walks and five hits. Jimmy Skiff went 5.2 innings for the Pride and took the loss (3-3). He allowed 14 hits and 11 earned runs with two walks and two strikeouts.

Evan Maize and Sam Traver were stellar out the bullpen for Davenport. Maize allowed one hit and struck out a batter in the seventh. Traver threw the final two innings allowing one hit with a walk and strikeout. Davenport finished the scoring with a run in the eighth and ninth. Sobieski recorded his third RBI with a double to center and Bryant scored after a one-out single. Alex Huard tripled with one out in the ninth and scored on a wild pitch.