March 21, 2009

Box Score

Hillsdale, Mich. - #1-Ranked Grand Valley State swept a GLIAC twinbill from Hillsdale Saturday afternoon. GVSU took the opener 9-4, followed by a 5-0 shutout victory. The Lakers improve to 20-2 overall and 4-0 in GLIAC action, while Hillsdale falls to 7-8 and 0-2. The two teams will play a single 9-inning affair Sunday afternoon at Hillsdale.

GVSU struck first as 2B Kyle Gendron doubled down the leftfield line with two outs in the top of the third. 3B Josh Hillyard drove in Gendron with a single to right. Hillsdale tied the game in the bottom half of the third frame with a single run. The Lakers plated three runs on four hits in the top of the fourth. DH Ben Knuth doubled and took third on a single to center by RF Cody Grice. SS Dan Anstedt then took his first offering over the leftfield fence for a 3-run HR to give GVSU a 4-1 lead.

The Lakers broke the game open with five runs on four hits in the top of the sixth. Grice hit a solo shot to left, followed by a back-to-back singles from C Jared Cowan and LF Matt Nickels. Gendron drove in three with a 3-run shot to left to give GVSU an 8-1 lead. The Lakers scored their final run on two walks and two hit batters in the sixth. Laker starter Danny Richard gave up his first earned run of the year in the top of the sixth (25 innings) on a solo HR. The Chargers scored two runs on no hits, one error, one walk and a passed ball off Laker releiver Kyle Schepel in the seventh.

Gendron was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs, while Grice was 3-for-4 with two runs. Nickels collected a pair of hits and scored one run, while Anstedt drove in three. Richard struck out five and yielded two runs, one earned, on five hits in six innings of work as he improved to 4-0 on the year.

After three scoreless innings to start game two, 3B Josh Hillyard opened the top of the fourth with a single to left. CF Casey Robrahn popped out to first, but 1B Cory Maguire drove a pitch over the rightfield fence to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead. GVSU starter Andre Benjamin continued to roll along until his offense put three more runs on the board in the top of the seventh. RF Cody Grice reached on a bunt and was sacraficed to second by SS Steve Anderson. C Bobby Walmsley reached on a error and Matt Nickels drove in Grice with a pinch-hit double to center. Walmsley scored on a groundout by Gendron and a Hillyard single to center scored Nickels.

Benjamin upped his record to 4-0 on the year with the 4-hit, complete-game shutout. He notched seven strikeouts and walked four. Hillyard was 3-for-4 with and RBI and run scored. Grice was 2-for-3 with a run scored, while Maguire drove in a pair.