Panther baseball enters the final week of the regular season looking to build momentum

4/28/2026 12:05:00 PM

By: Ryan Thompson, Assistant AD for Communications

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The final week of the regular season is upon us, and the Davenport baseball team will play five games in hopes of building some momentum heading into the GLIAC Tournament. First up, the Panthers (21-24) will travel to Northwood on Tuesday for their final non-conference game. They will then return home for a four-game series against Purdue Northwest beginning on Friday, May 1.

The Panthers are fresh off a four-game series at No. 7 Grand Valley State in which they started strong with an 8-6 win on Friday, but then dropped the final three games with the closest margin being a three-run defeat. The Lakers showed why quality pitching is so vital to success. The Panthers batted .225 as a team, while GVSU batted .323 as a unit. Laker hurlers had a 3.18 ERA and struck out 32 batters in 34 innings. DU pitchers had a 6.68 ERA and fanned 22 with 19 walks in 31 innings of work.

Jeff Agar made a return to the mound on Friday for the first time since March 21 due to injury and tossed 3 1/3 innings of relief to get the win (2-1). He surrendered one hit while also striking out three Lakers. Lucas Coll earned his first save of the season in a solid one-inning outing, using 12 pitches to secure the victory. Dylan Pawenski was effective at the plate, collecting three hits and driving in one run. Julian Contreras recorded three hits to tie his season high and drove in one run, while scoring twice.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Wyatt Epple and Contreras turned in the best performance against Grand Valley State, batting .333. Epple went 5-for-15 in four starts with a run scored and two RBIs. Contreras went 4-for-12 with two runs scored, a double, and two RBIs. Pawenski and Ben Korson each delivered a home run in the series. Cody Hultink returned to action for the first time since March 8 due to injury and had one hit, one run, and one RBI in six at-bats. On the mound, Gabe Helder tossed two innings and gave up no runs and no walks with two strikeouts. Brandon Skorupski pitched three innings and allowed two hits and no runs.

SERIES HISTORY
Davenport beat Northwood once already this season, back on April 14th by a score of 13-6 at home. That win marked the seventh straight over the Timberwolves and increased their series lead to 17-12. DU is 2-5 overall all-time at Gerace Stadium in Midland. Sam Clay drove in three runs and scored twice in the previous meeting this season. Pawenski also drove in three runs with a pair of doubles. Travis Liford hit a homer as part of his three-hit day and drove in two. Ian Dixon got the win in relief with three innings on the bump and no runs allowed.

The Panthers are 31-6 overall in the all-time series against Purdue Northwest dating back to the 2018 season when both teams joined the GLIAC. DU won the first 10 matchups before the Pride won on April 17, 2021, in Hammond, Indiana, by a score of 8-5. Davenport has won the last seven games in the series, including a four-game sweep in Hammond last season from March 21-22. The Panthers scored 49 runs in the four games, including a doubleheader sweep on March 21 by scores of 14-2 and 21-6.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Northwood is currently 18-27 overall and 14-14 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Timberwolves rank third in the G-MAC in earned run average (6.13) and know how to manufacture runs, ranking first in sacrifice flies (32) and second in sacrifice bunts (31). Northwood is scoring six runs per game, which ranks ninth in the conference and 186th in Division II. Lucas McKinney leads the G-MAC with a 2.62 ERA, and that is also good for 27th in Division II. McKinney is also first in wins (6) and second in WHIP (1.15). Caden Duryea has blasted 10 home runs to rank fifth in the league.

The Pride is currently 15-22 overall and 7-13 in the GLIAC. Purdue Northwest is in sixth place in the standings and currently holds the final spot in the GLIAC Tournament. Davenport is tied for third at 11-9 with Parkside, but the Rangers finish this weekend at league-leading Grand Valley State.

PNW just dropped three of four on the road at Wayne State, salvaging the final game of the series on Sunday by a final score of 5-4. They managed just two runs in the three losses prior to that win against the Warriors. Brett Bounds (2-1) got the victory in 2 1/3 relief innings and allowed one hit and no runs with a walk and a strikeout. Owen Walkowiak earned his first save of the season, tossing the final 2 1/3 innings, despite giving up three runs on four hits. Drew Kosteba went 3-for-5 at the plate and homered in the second inning to give PNW a 2-1 lead. He later had an RBI single in the sixth inning to increase the advantage to 3-1. The Warriors trailed 5-1 entering the bottom of the ninth and mounted a comeback with three runs, but stranded the tying run at third base.

Brayden Barrett is leading the team with a .360 batting average in 30 starts. He has 28 runs scored, four doubles, one triple, one home run, and 15 RBIs. Barrett is also a threat on the basepaths, going 20-for-22 in stolen bases. Kosteba is hitting .324 with 46 hits, including nine doubles, two triples, and three homers. He leads the team with 31 RBIs. The Pride pitching staff has an ERA of 7.42 this season. Walkowiak has a 4.79 ERA in 41 1/3 innings with 37 strikeouts to lead the squad. Preston Burton leads the team with three wins in eight appearances, covering three starts and 27 1/3 innings.

SCHEDULE (Subject to change)
Tuesday, April 28 at Northwood (4:30 PM) - Live Video - Live Stats
Friday, May 1 vs Purdue Northwest (3:00 PM) - Live Video
Saturday, May 2 vs Purdue Northwest (1:00 PM DH - Senior Day) - Live Video
Sunday, May 3 vs Purdue Northwest (12:00 PM) - Live Video
Live Stats for the PNW series

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