May 16, 2009

Box Score

Chillicothe, Ohio - #11 Grand Valley State (43-14-1) claimed an 11-2 victory over Northern Kentucky Saturday afternoon in NCAA DII Midwest Regional action and with the win the Lakers advance to the final day of the Midwest Regional. GVSU will have to win two games on Sunday versus an opponent to be determined in order to advance to the NCAA DII World Series.

Laker freshman pitcher Kyle Schepel was a bulldog on the mound, yielding two runs on nine hits in 8.0 innings of work. Schepel did not walk a batter and notched four strikeouts en route to his fifth (5-1) win of the year.

The Lakers started off strong as RF Matt Nickels reached on an error to start the game, followed by an RBI double off the wall in right center by 3B Josh Hillyard. Hillyard advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by 2B Kyle Gendron to give GVSU a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Northern Kentucky picked up its first run of the game on a solo HR in the top of the fourth, but the Lakers picked up three runs of their own in the top of the fifth to take a 5-1 lead. 1B Cory Maguire his a one-out solo HR to left to plate GVSU's first run of the inning. CF Casey Robrahn singled and moved to third on a double by DH Ben Knuth. SS Brad Raj drove in Robrahn and LF Cody Grice doubled to left center to score Knuth.

Grice reached on an error with one out in the top of the seventh and moved to second on a groundout by C Bobby Walmsley. Nickels dropped a soft liner to left to score Grice and up the Laker advantage to 6-1. NKU answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh, but a five-run spot in the top of the ninth put the game away. The Lakers scored five runs on four hits and two Norse errors. Grice reached on another error with one out and advanced to second on a single from Walmsley. Both Grice and Walmsley advanced one base on a throwing error by the NKU second baseman. Nickels walked to load the bases and Hillyard singled to score Grice. Following a strikeout for the second out of the innings, Maguire drove in a pair with a single to center to up the Laker lead to 9-2 and Robrahn doubled to right to drive in two more for the final margin of 11-2.

GVSU notched 20 hits on the day, giving them 43 hits in the last two games. Robrahn was 5-for-6 with two RBIs, while Maguire was 3-for-6 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Grice reached base five times with a 3-for-5 and reached base on two errors. Hillyard and Gendron each went 2-for-6. Hillyard drove in a pair and scored two runs, while Gendron plated one run. Walmsley was the sixth Laker with at least two hits as he went 2-for-5.

Notes...Kyle Gendron upped his single-season school-record hit total to 88...Casey Robrahn's two doubles upped his career-doubles mark to 49, while his five hits upped his career hits total to 279.