GVSU Claims 3-1 Over SIU-Edwardsville; Lakers Set To Play For North Central Championship

May 20, 2006

Allendale, Mich. - #1-seeded Grand Valley State claimed a 3-1 victory over SIU-Edwardsville Saturday afternoon and with the win the Lakers advanced to the NCAA DII North Central Regional title game set for Sunday at 3 p.m. SIU-Edwardsville will play Ashland at 12 noon and the winner will advance to play the Lakers.

SIUE got on the board first with a run in the top of the fifth. DH Nate Doty walked and advanced to second on a balk. Doty went to third on a Michael DalPozzo sac fly to right and scored on Bryan Newby's single to third. The Lakers came back in the bottom half of the fifth with two runs. The Lakers' two runs were the first runs yielded by SIUE pitchers and set an NCAA DII National Tournament record with 22 straight scoreless innings. 1B Casey Robrahn started the inning with a double over third base. DH Brandon Bard sacraficed Robrahn to third and SS Dan Skirka single to right to sccore Robrahn. LF Nate Secor walked and 3B Lee VanStreain walked to load the bases. SIU-Edwardsville made a pitching change and James Hertel was called for a balk to score Skirka. The Lakers added a third run in the bottom of the eighth when RF Nick Sandy was hit by a pitch. C Nick Smith reached on a fielder's choice when the second baseman made an error and pulled the shortstop off the bag on an attempted putout. Robrahn reached on a fielder's choice advancing Sandy to third and Bard then singled to right to score Sandy and give the Lakers a 3-1 lead. SIUE was able to get a pair of base runners in the ninth, but relief pitcher David Bowman came into the game to close the door and pick up his seventh savie of the year.

Nate McCrory picked up the win and improved to 8-1 on the year. McCrory yielded sixth hits and one run in 8.1 innings. Clay Zavada took the loss, giving up two runs on three hits in 4.2 innings. Hertel pitched the final 3.1 innings.

GVSU managed just four hits, Skirka and Bard each had a hit and an RBI. SIUE catcher Jake Smith was 3-3. The victory gave Grand Valley State a school-record 47 wins this season.

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