May 15, 2010
Box Score
Evansville, Ind. - #20 Grand Valley State took on #11 Southern Indiana in a match-up of the only remaining unbeatens in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament on Saturday afternoon, and came away with a huge 6-3 victory over the top-seeded Screaming Eagles to advance to the Midwest Regional Championship.
As the Lakers have done many times this year, they got the scoring started in the first inning. After two quick outs by Grand Valley batters, Kyle Gendron laced a single up the middle and then Cory Maguire crushed his ninth homerun of the year, tying him for the team lead to put the Lakers up 2-0 after one inning.
After Southern Indiana got a two-run homer of their own in the top of the fourth by Brad Vance to tie the game, the Lakers responded in a big way in the bottom half of the frame, using four straight singles by the last four batters in the lineup to take the lead back, 4-2. After a passed ball put runners at second and third, two straight balks by USI pitcher Dan Marcacci brought in two more runs, pushing the Grand Valley lead to 6-2 after four innings.
USI put one run up in the top of the sixth inning to make it 6-3, but Matt Cade shut the Screaming Eagles down for 3.2 innings to get the save for the Lakers, allowing only one hit while striking out three.
Kyle Schepel (6-2) got the win for Grand Valley State, going 5.1 innings and allowing eight hits, three runs, and three walks while striking out five.
Maguire led the way at the plate for the Lakers, going 2-for-4 with one run and two RBI, including his ninth homerun of the season. Steve Anderson also went 2-for-4, while Zach Laupp and Dan Ponegalek each had one RBI.
#20 Grand Valley State (37-14) advances to the championship series tomorrow (Sunday, May 16) at 12 p.m. ET against an opponent to be determined. Northern Kentucky and Indianapolis will be playing at 4 p.m. ET in an elimination game, with the winner of that game facing Southern Indiana at 8 p.m. ET tonight in another elimination game. The winner of that game tonight will advance to face GVSU tomorrow.
