May 13, 2011
Box Score
Chillicothe, Ohio - The #1 Grand Valley State baseball team pushed their winning streak to 27 games with a 12-1 shelling of Wayne State in the winner's bracket of the 2011 GLIAC Baseball Tournament on Friday (May 13). The Lakers advance to the championship round of the tournament where they will face Wayne State again at noon on Saturday (May 14). Four Lakers had multiple RBI in the game, led by newly-crowned GLIAC Player of the Year Cody Grice going 4-for-5 with two RBI, falling a home run short of the cycle and becoming the first Laker to steal 20 bases in a season since 2005.
Already outscoring opponents 78-7 in the first inning this year, the Lakers kept that trend going by pushing three runs across the plate in the opening frame. Grice doubled in Phillips to start the scoring, an RBI groundout from junior Steve Anderson brought in another run and an RBI single by senior Andrew Trepel had GVSU up 3-0 after one.
The Warriors got a single run in the top of the second on a passed ball, but the Lakers responded in the bottom of the third with two more runs on RBI singles from freshman Giancarlo Brugnoni and senior Torre Aguirre who made it a 5-1 game.
Leading 7-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Grice tripled in senior Paul Young to make it an 8-1 game and Anderson brought Grice across the plate with a double to make it 9-1. An RBI single by Young for the second straight inning in the bottom of the seventh made it a 10-1 game and another Anderson RBI single made it 11-1. A double from senior Cory Phillips in the bottom of the eighth capped the scoring at 12-1.
Junior Ryan Garman got the victory for the Lakers to move to 9-1 on the season, throwing seven innings, allowing five hits and no earned runs while striking out five. Juniors Cory Rademacher and Jacob Cox each threw a scoreless inning of relief to cap the game off. The start by Garman moved his season ERA to 1.23 over 58.2 innings pitched.
At the plate, Grice led the way, going 4-for-5 with three runs and two RBI. Phillips was 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI including two doubles. Young went 2-for-5 with three runs and two RBI while Anderson went 2-for-4 with one run and three RBI in the contest. Brugnoni and Aguirre each had two hits while Trepel continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-5 with one run, two RBI and his 10th stolen base of the year. Junior Brian Robinson went 1-for-4 with a run and hit his first triple of the season.
The Lakers (47-3 overall) will now face Wayne State (32-18) in the championship round at noon on Saturday at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio. The Warriors avoided elimination Friday night by taking down Saginaw Valley State in a loser's bracket game by an 11-3 score. GVSU, being undefeated in the tournament, would have to lose twice to Wayne State on Saturday to be eliminated. If Wayne State forces a second game on Saturday, it will begin a half hour following the conclusion of game one. With a victory, the Lakers would capture the 2011 GLIAC Baseball Tournament crown for the seventh time in school history out of nine tournaments that have been held.
