April 18, 2010
Box Score
Ashland, Ohio - #13 Grand Valley State had a dominating performance today at Ashland to win the final game of their weekend series 7-0 over the Eagles. Senior Jared Knuth pitched eight shutout innings and struck out a career-high eight batters, while the offense racked up 19 hits, the most ever for a GVSU squad against Ashland, besting a 14-hit output by the Lakers on May 6th, 2007.
The nine-inning rubber match between the second and third place teams in the conference started off as a pitching duel, with no score through the first four innings until the Lakers finally turned on the offense in the top of the fifth.
After a Brian Robinson single through the left side, Kyle Gendron hit a one-out two-run homerun, his fifth of the season, to left field to put the Lakers up 2-0. A couple batters later, Andrew Trepel doubled to the left field gap and was driven in by Torre Aguirre later in the inning for a 3-0 Grand Valley State lead.
The Lakers added two more in the top of the sixth, one run by Chris Rudenga on an error by the center fielder, and one on a Robinson single up the middle that scored Cody Grice to make it a 5-0 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Grand Valley State added a couple more insurance runs, as a Zach Laupp double brought in Steve Anderson from third to make it 6-0 Lakers, and a Rudenga sacrifice fly brought in Aguirre, making it 7-0 Grand Valley State.
Knuth (3-2) was dominant, allowing only one runner past second base all game long, as he pitched eight innings and allowed only six hits and one walk while striking out a career-high eight batters. Kyle Schepel came in to close the game out in the ninth inning.
On offense, the Lakers had a record-setting day with their 19 hits, as it was the most hits that Grand Valley State has ever had against Ashland. Leading the way on offense was Gendron, who went 2-for-6 with one run and two RBI thanks to his homerun. Robinson and Aguirre each went 3-for-5 with one run and one RBI, while Grice was 4-for-6 with one run. Trepel, Anderson, and Rudenga each had two hits, as well.
Grand Valley State moves to 28-10 overall and 18-7 in the GLIAC with the victory while the Eagles fall to 23-15 overall, 13-9 in the conference. The Lakers are back in action on Wednesday (Apr. 21) when they travel to Tiffin, Ohio, to take on the Dragons (17-25, 13-12 GLIAC) who are 8-2 in their last 10 games. The doubleheader is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m.
