March 6, 2009

Box Score

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Grand Valley State picked up its seventh win of the young season with a 9-4 victory over Quincy at the Chain of Lakes Park on Friday. Junior Brad Raj hit a home run and drove in four runs to power the Grand Valley State offense while freshman Kyle Schepel struck out nine through seven innings of work in his first collegiate start.

Raj finished the day 2-for-4 with four runs batted in and one scored. Senior Casey Robrahn picked up another two hits, going 2-of-5 with one run and one RBI. Junior Kyle Gendron recorded a home run and two walks in five plate appearances and scored twice.

Schepel's final line was a nice birthday present for assistant pitching coach Eric Snyder. He struck out nine and walked two while giving up five hits and two earned runs through seven innings. Junior Jared Knuth pitched the final two innings and gave up just two hits and no runs with two strikeouts.

GVSU (7-1) scored its first four runs on homers, starting with Gendron's solo shot in the bottom of the first inning. The Hawks tied the game with an RBI single in the top of the third inning before the Laker bats exploded for eight runs in the middle three innings.

In the bottom of the fourth, senior Ben Knuth singled through the left side with one out and then Raj launched the ball into the left-field bleachers for a two-run shot, putting GVSU up 3-1. Senior Bobby Walmsley hit the third home run of the day, his second of the season, to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. Grand Valley State scored twice more in the frame courtesy of a Raj single that plated both Robrahn and junior Cory Maguire.

Holding a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Lakers added three more runs. Freshman Cody Grice reached on an error to start the rally and both senior Matt Nickels and Gendron drew walks to load the bases. Robrahn sent Grice home on a groundout to first base and then Maguire singled to center field to score the other two and give Grand Valley State a 9-1 advantage.

Quincy scored three runs, two unearned, in the top half of the seventh inning to round out the scoring at 9-4. The Lakers finished the day with nine runs on 10 hits, while GVSU pitching gave up four runs, two earned, on seven hits.