May 14, 2011
Box Score
Chillicothe, Ohio - The top-ranked Lakers claimed a 9-4 victory over Wayne State on Saturday (May 14) to win the 2011 GLIAC Baseball Tournament title, the school's seventh tournament crown. GVSU pounded out 14 hits and broke open a 3-3 tie with a four-run sixth inning that included a two-RBI single from senior Cory Phillips. The Lakers are now 48-3 on the season and will await the national tournament selections to be announced Sunday (May 15) night. GVSU was ranked first in the midwest region entering the GLIAC Tournament.
As has been a theme all year, it was only fitting that the Lakers got out to another first inning lead in the championship game, putting two runs on the board in the opening frame off a groundout with the bases loaded and a balk.
Wayne State answered with two runs of their own in the top of the second inning. After two quick outs, Kyle Vesey walked and Caleb Dalman singled into right center, putting runners on the corners. A wild pitch then moved Dalman to second and a single through the left side from Phil Swanson plated one run. A fielding error a couple batters later allowed the tying run to cross the plate. The Warriors kept the momentum going in the top of the third as they took the lead on an RBI groundout from Kyle Vesey that made it a 3-2 game.
The Lakers tied it at three in the bottom of the third after senior Dan Ponegalek singled and then stole second. A groundout moved Ponegalek to third and a single from junior Cody Grice deep behind third base that he beat the throw on plated Ponegalek to make it a 3-3 game.
The game broke open in the bottom of the sixth as junior Steve Anderson led the inning off with a single in to left field. Freshman Giancarlo Brugnoni followed with a single deep in the hole at short to put two runners on and senior Andrew Trepel sacrificed both runners over, putting Lakers on second and third with one out. After a strikeout, junior Jared Cowan got hit by a pitch to load the bases as the Warriors made a pitching change.
The first batter against the new pitcher, Ponegalek, worked a five-pitch walk to plate the go-ahead run before Phillips singled sharply through the left side of the infield to score Cowan and Brugnoni to make it a 6-3 game. Senior Paul Young followed him up with a single back up the middle that scored Ponegalek as the Lakers had a 7-3 lead.
Trepel added an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh and a sacrifice fly from Grice in the bottom of the eighth pushed another run across. The Warriors were only able to scrape one more run across, on an RBI single from Cameron Walker in the top of the eighth.
Senior Joe Jablonski got the victory for the Lakers to move to 6-1 on the season as he worked his way around four errors in the field. He threw six innings, allowing five hits, one earned run and one walk while striking out five. Junior Chris Whitney pitched 1.2 innings of relief while sophomore Brad Zambron pitched 1.1 perfect innings of relief with two strikeouts to nail down the victory.
Phillips led the way on offense, going 2-for-3 with two runs, two RBI and two walks to go along with his eighth stolen base of the year. Cowan was 2-for-3 with one run while Trepel was 2-for-4 with one RBI. Brugnoni and Young were each 2-for-5 with a run scored and Grice went 1-for-3 with two RBI. Ponegalek finished the game 1-for-2 with two runs, one RBI and a walk.
Alex Pierse got the loss for Wayne State, going 5.2 innings and allowing eight hits, six runs and two walks while striking out five. Dalman and Michael Wiseman each had two hits and a run for the Warriors.
The Lakers, now with a school-record 48 wins, will most likely host the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional by virtue of being the top ranked team in the region in the latest rankings that were released on Wednesday. The selections will be made on Sunday night and information will be posted on gvsulakers.com.
