April 5, 2009

Box Score

ALLENDALE, Mich. - Grand Valley State closed out a three-game weekend series with an 18-1 win over Findlay at the Laker Baseball Field on Sunday. Junior Brad Raj went 4-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored and another four batted in, while senior Ben Knuth earned the win by throwing seven innings with no earned runs and 12 strikeouts.

The No. 1 Lakers (28-4, 12-2) took two games of the three-game set, capped off by the route on Sunday. As a team, Grand Valley State scored 18 runs on 22 hits on Sunday, including an eight-run outburst in the bottom of the eighth inning. Knuth threw seven innings and gave up one unearned run on four hits with 12 strikeouts. Raj paced the Lakers at the plate, as did senior Bobby Walmsley, who went 4-for-5 with two RBI, and junior Kyle Gendron, who plated three runs and scored three of his own.

The Oilers jumped in front with a run in the top of the third inning, but that would be the only run they would score all day. The Lakers took the lead for good in the bottom half of the third with five runs on seven hits. Senior Josh Hillyard singled to center field to score the first run, followed by another RBI-single by Gendron. Raj tripled to right field to plate the third and fourth runs, and junior Cory Maguire finished the scoring with a single through the right side that sent Raj home.

Two runs in each the fifth and sixth innings put GVSU up 9-1. In the fifth, Walmsley accounted for both runs with a single through the left side. Raj picked up two more RBI with a double to left-center in the bottom of the sixth. Senior Matt Nickels scored a lone run in the seventh on a wild pitch.

Eight runs in the bottom of the eighth inning closed out the game. Freshman Steve Anderson plated the first two with a single through the left side. With the bases loaded, Nickels hit a triple to left-center that scored all three runners. Sophomore Torre Aguirre scored Nickels on a single and then Gendron scored the last two with a double to right field.