May 13, 2010
Box Score
Evansville, Ind. - #20 Grand Valley State opened up NCAA Tournament play today with a huge victory over GLIAC rival Ashland in game one of the Midwest Regional tournament by a score of 6-3. The Lakers were in a 3-0 deficit after the first three and a half innings, but a three-run fourth inning rally by GVSU tied the game, and clutch hitting in the fifth and seventh innings fueled the win.
The Eagles, who eliminated the Lakers from the GLIAC Tournament last week with two wins over Grand Valley State, got off to an early start, as they scored one run each in the second, third, and fourth innings to take an early 3-0 lead. The fourth inning got the Lakers rolling however, as Kyle Gendron and Cory Maguire led off the frame with singles, and were moved to second and third on an Andrew Trepel sacrifice bunt. After a Steve Anderson groundout pushed one run across, Torre Aguirre hit a line drive off pitcher Ben Minard's knee which caromed, in the air, into foul territory in left field and scored Maguire to make it a 3-2 game and put Aguirre at second. Zach Laupp then singled to center field to bring in Aguirre in to tie the game.
Two-out hits were big again in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Trepel singled through the left side and then was moved to second after Anderson was hit by a pitch. Aguirre came up again, and for the second consecutive at-bat, put an RBI on the board with a single into center field to put the Lakers ahead 4-3.
In the top of the seventh inning, Ashland threatened to take the lead back, loading the bases with one out, but a 463 double play got the Lakers out of the inning unscathed.
The great defense turned into more offense in the bottom of the seventh for Grand Valley State, as Maguire walked to lead off the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. After an Anderson single put runners on first and third with one out, Laupp singled to left field with two outs to score Maguire and make it a 5-3 game. Up next was Dan Ponegalek, who hit a line drive up the middle that bounced off the shortstop's glove on a diving attempt and rolled into center field, scoring Anderson from second to push the lead to 6-3 for the Lakers.
After Ashland put two runners on in the top of the eighth, Matt Cade came in for the Lakers and got a flyball to right field before walking the next hitter to load the bases. Cade came up with a huge strikeout against the pinch-hitter to end the inning though, and then came back out and got the Eagle hitters to go down in order in the ninth to get the win.
Joe Jablonski (8-2) got the win for Grand Valley State, pitching 7.1 innings and allowing eight hits, three runs, and three walks. Cade got his first save of the year with 1.2 innings of no-hit ball in relief with one walk and two strikeouts. Aguirre led the way on offense, going 3-for-4 with one run and two RBI, while Laupp was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Anderson and Ponegalek each had one RBI in the contest as well.
The Lakers (35-14) advance to face the winner of Wayne State against Northern Kentucky at 8 p.m. ET tomorrow (Friday, May 14).
