March 9, 2011

Game One Box Score (5-3 W)

Game Two Box Score (10-5 W)

Winter Haven, Fla. - #7 Grand Valley State (11-2) extended the winning streak to five with a sweep of Rockhurst (3-3) on Wednesday (Mar. 9) by scores of 5-3 and 10-5. Junior Steve Anderson and senior Cory Phillips both went deep in the doubleheader as Anderson became the first Laker to hit multiple homeruns this season. Freshman Bill Maple (2-0) threw 3.2 innings of no-hit ball in the nightcap to get the victory for the Lakers in relief.

In game one, it was the Lakers getting off to a quick start yet again on this spring trip as a Cody Grice RBI single scored Garrett Yatch in the bottom of the first inning. GV collected another run on a double play ball with the bases loaded to push the lead to 2-0 later in the inning.

The Lakers added two more in the bottom of the second inning as a one-out Zach Laupp single set the table for Phillips' two-run shot over the net in left field to put GV up 4-0. The Lakers added yet another in the third inning with a Derrik Strzalkowski sacrifice fly that scored Grice from third to make it a 5-0 lead for GV.

Rockhurst wouldn't go away quietly, however. Three straight singles to lead off the top of the fourth inning loaded the bases for Rockhurst and a walk pushed one run across. A hit by pitch against the next batter yielded yet another run to make it 5-2. A big swing of momentum happened in the next at-bat as Chandler flew out to left field and appeared to bring in another Rockhurst run off the sacrifice fly. The umpires ruled that the runner from third left early and the Lakers touched the bag to get the second out of the play. A groundout to second base ended the Rockhurst threat and kept GV in front, 5-2.

A one-out solo homerun by Bradbury for Rockhurst in the top of the sixth inning cut the lead even closer at 5-3, but Brad Zambron got the final two outs of the inning and Jacob Cox came in to slam the door in the seventh, although not before Rockhurst brought the tying run to the plate with two outs. Cox came up big with a three-pitch strikeout to end the game against the #3 hitter in the Rockhurst order.

Redshirt freshman Cody Westerhuis (1-0) got his first collegiate victory in the game, going 4.1 innings and allowing six hits and two runs. Zambron pitched 1.2 innings in relief, yielding two hits and one earned run. Cox got his first save of the season by pitching one inning, allowing two hits while striking out one.

Grice, Anderson and Laupp all went 2-for-3 in the game while Phillips finished up 1-for-2 with a run scored and two RBI off his first homerun of the season. Grice and Strzalkowski each had one RBI.

The nightcap of the doubleheader went much like the first game as the Lakers again had to hold off a Rockhurst charge. Rockhurst got on the board first with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning to make it a 1-0 game early.

The big Laker inning came in the top of the second as a lead off single by Anderson and another single by Jared Cowan put two runners on with nobody out. Phillips came to bat and hopped a ball over the first baseman's glove and down the right field line that scored Anderson and moved Cowan to third as Phillips pulled into second. After an Andrew Trepel walk loaded the bases with nobody out again, Torre Aguirre grounded out to first base but it pushed another run across to give GV a 2-1 lead. Chris Rudenga then doubled deep into the right field gap, scoring both Trepel and Phillips to push the lead to 4-1. Yatch singled to right field to score Rudenga and make it a 5-1 game, while a Grice single to third base that he beat the throw at first on scored the final run of the inning, placing the Lakers ahead 6-1.

Again Rockhurst wouldn't go away, as they put up their own big inning in the bottom of the third. The Lakers botched a double play ball after a lead off single from Tangney and another single loaded the bases with zero outs, just as GV had done in the second. A one-RBI single by the next hitter cut the lead to 6-2 before the Lakers got the first out of the inning on a pop-up to the shortstop. A groundout by the next batter brought in another run to make it a 6-3 game and a Chandler single to right field with two outs scored two more for Rockhurst, making it a tight 6-5 game.

The Lakers tried to recoup their insurance runs in the next couple innings, as Yatch had a one out triple down the right field line in the top of the fourth and was brought in by a Brian Robinson sacrifice fly to push the lead back out to 7-5. Anderson then crushed his homerun to lead off the top of the fifth inning as another ball flew over the net in left field to make it an 8-5 game.

GV added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh as Phillips had a one-out RBI double that scored Anderson who led off the inning with a double. Rudenga then brought Phillips in to score with an RBI single through the right side of the infield to make it a 10-5 game.

Maple got the win for the Lakers in relief in the nightcap, pitching 3.2 innings and not allowing a hit while striking out three. Cory Rademacher started the game for GV, going 3.1 innings and allowing six hits and two earned runs while striking out two.

The offense in game two was led by Anderson who went 3-for-4 with three runs, one RBI and his second homer of the season. Phillips went 2-for-4 with two runs, two RBI and his team-leading fourth double of the year. Rudenga finished the game 2-for-4 with one run and three RBI, including his second double of the season. Yatch and Cowan each went 2-for-4 in the game while Yatch, Robinson, Grice and Aguirre all collected one RBI each.

The Lakers will finish their Florida spring trip on Thursday (Mar. 10) when they take on Missouri-St. Louis (2-2) at 9:30 a.m. in Auburndale, Fla.