May 1, 2011

Game 1 - GVSU 8, WSU 1

Game 2 - GVSU 12, WSU 4

Detroit, Mich. - #2 Grand Valley State claimed the 2011 GLIAC baseball title with a four-game sweep over Wayne State in Detroit, Mich. The Lakers, who completed the sweep over WSU Sunday with 8-1 and 12-4 wins, improve their record to 39-3 overall and 28-1 in GLIAC action. GVSU will host Northwood Wednesday (May 4) at the Laker Baseball Field beginning at 2 p.m. GVSU has now won eight-of-the-last-nine GLIAC baseball championships (2011, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003) and has won a league record 15 GLIAC baseball crowns overall.

GVSU started the scoring early in game one as junior 2B Garrett Yatch opened the contest with a walk and moved to third on a single to right by senior RF Paul Young. Junior CF Cody Grice drove home Yatch with a sac fly and junior LF Steve Anderson scored young with a double to left center. Yatch started a three-run third inning with a double to left. Young moved Yatch to third with a fly out to left and Grice scored Yatch with a double down the right field line. Anderson scored Grice with a triple to left center and Giancarlo Brugnoni pushed Anderson across home plate with a sac fly to left.

GVSU upped its lead to 8-0 with three more runs in the fourth on three hits. 3B Dan Ponegalek and sophomore catcher each singled to open the fourth and Yatch loaded the bases when he reached on a fielder's choice. Ponegalek scored on a balk and Young came through with a 2-RBI double to right center that scored Laupp and Yatch. Wayne State scored its only run in the bottom of the fourth.

Junior RHP Ryan Garman improved to 7-1 on the year as he yielded four hits and one run in six innings of work. Garman struck out three and walked two as he lowered his team-best ERA to 1.38. Young, Grice and Anderson each drove in two runs, while Yatch crossed home plate three times. Young, Anderson and Ponegalek each collected two hits.

Grand Valley State scored first in game two with three runs in the top of the third. Yatch walked with one out and moved to second on a single to left from 3B Brian Robinson. Grice followed with a 3-run shot over Wayne State's version of the Fenway Park's Green Monster. Wayne State struck back with four runs in the bottom half of the third on three hits and two Laker errors. However, GVSU struck back quickly with two runs in the top of the fourth. C Jared Cowan singled and moved to second on a one out single by Yatch. Grice was walked to load the bases and Anderson was hit by a pitch to score Cowan and tie the game. Following a Wayne State pitching change 1B Derrik Strzalkowski was hit by a pitch to score Robinson and give GVSU a 5-4 lead.

The Lakers pushed two more runs across home plate in the fifth to take a 7-4 lead. Cowan was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a groundout. Cowan then moved to third on a wild pitch, followed by back-to-back walks to Yatch and Robinson. Grice then singled to left to plate a pair of runs. GVSU broke the game open with five runs in the top of the seventh, highlighted by a grand slam to left center off the bat of Anderson. GVSU has now hit five grand slams on the year, including two by Anderson.

Freshman Bill Maple started the game but was not involved in the decision. Fellow freshman Cody Westerhuis pitched a hitless fourth and picked up his third win of the year with no defeats. Junior Jacob Cox pitched two scoreless innings and Cory Rademacher added another inning of hitless relief. Yatch tallied just one hit on the day, but reached base four times and scored four runs. Grice was 2-for-3 with five RBIs, while Anderson was also 2-for-3 with five RBIs.

GVSU head coach Steve Lyon upped his record to 496-187-2 (.725) at Grand Valley State and 609-288-3 overall.