PFW Men’s Basketball Loses Against Oakland University

The Mastodons lost a close battle against the Golden Grizzlies last night. The final score was 71-63.  

The Mastodons were led by guard Rasheed Bello, who ended the night with 15 points shooting 7-10 from the field.  

PFW was down 10 points at half-time, and guard Anthony Roberts closed the half with a three-point buzzer beater. He finished with seven points and five rebounds.

In the second half, the Golden Grizzlies extended their lead to 13 points. The Mastodons then went on a 21-2 over seven minutes, allowing the Golden Grizzlies only four shot attempts.  

After the run, the Mastodons were up by four, but Oakland gained the lead back 62-60 with a minute left in the game. Their guard Jack Gohlke hit a 3-point dagger with 38 seconds left, making the score 65-60.  

PFW falls to 16-10 and Oakland University improves to 17-10. The Mastodons are back in action Saturday Feb. 17 against the Detroit Mercy at 1 p.m. The game can be watched at Calihan Hall in Detroit, Michigan, or on ESPN+.

Purdue Fort Wayne Men’s Volleyball Team Loses In Straight Sets to #14 Ranked Charleston

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne men’s volleyball team was defeated in straight sets, 3-0, tonight by #14 ranked Charleston.

PFW was able to keep the match tight all night but would just fall short in each set.

The Mastodons led the match in kills as they had 46 compared to Charleston’s 42. Jon Diedrich led PFW in this stat with 14 kills. In the third set Diedrich reached his 1,000th career kill.

Garret Schnitker led Charleston with 14 kills.

While PFW gathered more kills than Charleston, they also gathered more attack errors. PFW had 21 attack errors while Charleston just had eight.

PFW also struggled with their hitting percent as they hit .248% as a team. Charleston did better in this statistic as they hit .447%.

Charleston had the upper hand in blocks as they had 11 total blocks to PFW’s four. Charleston had 22 block assists and PFW had just six. Charleston was led in this stat by Diego Villafane, Veit Bils, and Will Kimenhour who each had five. PFW was led in blocks by Axel Melendez Watts, Mark Frazier, Carlos Mercado, and Bryce Walker who each had two.

With the win Charleston moves to 18-2 on the season. They are 3-1 in conference play and sit in 2nd in the EIVA. Their next match will be on Tuesday against Alderson Broaddus University.

With the loss PFW falls to 12-9 on the season. They are 3-4 in conference play and sit at 5th in the MIVA.

PFW will have to play another ranked opponent tomorrow as they face off against #9 Loyola Chicago.

Purdue Fort Wane Men’s Basketball Team Falls to Detroit Mercy in the First Round of the Horizon League Tournament.

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne men’s basketball team‘s season ended tonight in a 66-81 loss to Detroit mercy.

The Mastodons had a poor shooting night as they went 38.3% from the field, 28.6% from three and 75.0% from the free throw line. Detroit Mercy shot far better as they went 47.5% from the field, 40.0% from three and 81.3% from the free throw line.

PFW was led on offense tonight by Bobby Planutis. Planutis led the mastodons with 20 points, one assist, six rebounds and three steals. Detroit Mercy was led by Antoine Davis who had 38 points, eight assists, eight rebounds and four steals.

Detroit had the edge in tonight in rebounds. Detroit had 37 rebounds compared to PFW who had 34. Detroit was led in this stat by Davis who had eight. PFW was led in this stat by Planutis who had six.

With the win Detroit Mercy move on to play in the tournaments second round on Thursday.

With the loss PFW comes to an end.

The Mastodons took a step back this year after last years success. PFW was second in the Horizon League last season and were the regular season champions. This year they fall in the first round of the tournament and end the season 6th in the Horizon League.

Purdue Fort Wayne’s Baseball Team Swept By Bethune-Cookman In Four Game Weekend Series.

By Gavin Greer

Over the weekend Purdue Fort Wayne faced off against Bethune-Cookman in a four game weekend series. The Mastodons had a rough weekend as they lost each game.

The first game of the series was played Friday, the next two were played Saturday and the final game was played earlier today.

The first game of the series ended in a 8-13 loss. PFW had a good day at the plate as they totaled 12 hits with two of the hits being home runs. The Mastodons pitchers struggled in this matchup as three of the five pitchers that threw in this game allowed two or more runs.

The first game of Saturday ended in a 5-9 loss. Jarret Bickel had a great game for the Mastodons as he hit 4/5 and added one run. Caileb Johnson also had a great game as he went 3/4, with one run scored and three RBIs. PFW’s pitching struggled early as Jacob Meyer allowed six runs in 4.2 innings.

PFW’s second game of Saturday ended in a 4-7 loss. This was the closest game of the weekend for the Mastodons. Ben Higgins performed well for the Mastodons as he went 2/4 and scored a run. PFW’s pitching struggled again as Rex Stills allowed Bethune-Cookman to get five runs in six innings.

The weekend series ended today with a 0-10 loss. As a team PFW only totaled thee hits. They struck out more times, five, than they reached base. PFW’s pitching looked bad all weekend. Mac Ayers allowed five runs in 3.2 innings pitched.

PFW now sits at 1-7 on the season. They have lost six straight.

Their next time out will be in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They will play four games from Mar. 3 to Mar. 5.

In this four game span they will play Ball State twice, Wake Forest and Cornell.

Purdue Fort Wayne’s Softball Team Wins One Game In Weekend Tournament.

By Gavin Greer

Over the weekend Purdue Fort Wayne’s softball team competed in the 2023 Aces Home Tournament #2. From Friday to today the team played five games in the tournament. Out of the five, they came away only winning one matchup.

The team played two games on Friday, two games on Saturday and one game today.

The Mastodons first game of the tournament was against Bowling Green. This was their only win of the tournament as they won 3-2. Pitcher Alanah Jones picked up her third win of the season. She pitched all seven innings totaling five strikeouts. Taryn Jenkins was PFW’s best batter as she went 1/2 batting picking up a run and a walk.

In PFW’s second game on Friday they lost 2-3 to Evansville. PFW’s pitchers did well, but the Mastodons were not able to outbat the Aces. Bailey Manos was PFW’s best batter as she was the only player to get a hit. Grace Hollopeter and Jenkins reached base on walks.

PFW’s first game on Saturday ended in a 2-5 loss to St. Thomas. PFW did better batting in this game as they had six hits. Unfortunately these hits did not result in scores, so PFW was not able to stay in the game.

In their second game on Saturday PFW lost in extra innings to Evansville 4-5. PFW had the lead in the 8th inning but allowed two runs to lose the game. Hollopeter went 2/5, scored one run and totaled one RBI.

Today PFW played their last game of the tournament against St. Thomas. This game was thei biggest loss of the weekend as they fell 1-5. PFW struggled at the plate. Their best batter was Hollopeter. She batted 1/3 and scored one run.

Following the completion of the tournament, PFW sits at 4-12 on the season. They will have a chance to improve this record next weekend as they travel to Bloomington to play in the Hoosier Classic.

PFW will face off against four opponents from Mar. 3 to Mar. 4. They will play Green Bay, IU, and Wisconsin. The matchup against Wisconsin will be a double header.

Purdue Fort Wayne’s Men’s Volleyball Team Suffers Loss Against Ranked Ohio State

By Gavin Greer

Purdue Fort Wayne lost tonight in four sets against #10 ranked Ohio State. Set scores were 25-23, 16-25, 32-34 and 19-25.

The Mastodons fought hard tonight against a difficult opponent but were unable to get over the hump. Late in the third set, PFW looked like they could pull away to take a 2-1 set lead, but they eventually lost the lead in the set and Ohio State closed out the set before going on to win the match.

Jon Diedrich led all players in kills with 20 for the Mastodons. Teammates Mark Frazier and Bryce Walker were not far behind with Frazier getting 14 and Walker totaling 11.

Ohio State’s kill leader was Jacob Pasteur who totaled 19 kills.

Two areas that PFW struggled in tonight, that ultimately led to their loss, were serves and attacking.

PFW had 4 aces but totaled 20 service errors. Ohio State doubled PFW’s ace total by scoring eight aces and only errored on 12 serves.

While not as big of an area of concern, PFW did have struggles in attacking. PFW had 24 attacking errors while Ohio State had only 19. Ohio State also had a better hitting percentage where they hit .289% compared to PFW’s .264%.

Although PFW is struggling in MIVA play, they have had a successful season so far. In total the team is 10-3 with two of their three losses coming against MIVA rivals. PFW can improve to .500 in MIVA play in their next game if they can beat Ohio State.

With tonight’s win Ohio State extended their win streak to four games and improved to a 10-3 record. Their next game will be on the road Saturday against Loyola Chicago.

The Mastodons next game will be Saturday at 7 PM at home against #11 ranked Ball State.

PFW Mens Volleyball 2023 Stats