May 19, 2011

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Normal, Ill. - Top-ranked Grand Valley State (49-3) used a Cory Phillips one-out, two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 10th to claim a 4-2 victory over GLIAC rival Wayne State in NCAA DII Midwest Regional first-round action Thursday (May 19) afternoon. GVSU, serving as the host school in Normal, Ill., will face the loser of Northern Kentucky-Quincy game Friday (May 20) at 3:30 p.m.

Phillips, who hails from Normal, Ill. and played two years at Heartland Community College in Normal, sent the 0-1 fastball over the 368 mark in leftcenter. Pinch hitter Brian Robinson opened the inning with a walk and was sacraficed to second by sophomore catcher Zach Laupp.

"I was just looking to drive something to the outfield on the ground to score Brian (Robinson)," said the senior second-baseman. "It was my fifth at bat against Brett Shankin so I had seen everything he was going to throw and I was just able to get enough of that pitch to get it out."

Wayne State scored got on the board first with a Caleb Dalman solo home run down the leftfield line to open the fourth inning. The Warriors were able to get their next two batters on base with no outs, but starting pitcher Ryan Garman struck out Andrew Ciennik and dealt a 4-6-3 double play ball to get out of the inning.

Senior DH Torre Aguirre doubled to rightcenter with one out in the bottom of the fifth and moved to third on a sac bunt from senior 3B Dan Ponegalek. Laupp walked and Phillips reach on a throwing error by the Wayne State third baseman that scored Aguirre. GVSU took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth as senior RF Paul Young singled, followed by a fielders choice off the bat of junior CF Cody Grice. Grice stole second and scored when Shankin attempted a pickoff at second, but tossed the ball to center field allowing Grice to score.

Junior RHP Chris Whitney came in for Garman and allowed just one hit in 1.1 innings of work. Sophomore reliever Brad Zambron came in for Whitney with one out in the eighth and was able to strike out two with two on base.

WSU's Alex Trojan opened the top of the ninth with a double down the rightfield line and moved to third on a balk. However, Zambron recorded a strikeout and a lineout to center and had two strikes on Brad Guenther before a single to center to score Trojan and tie the game.

Brad Zambron (4-1) got the victory, pitching 2.2 innings of relief. Brett Shankin (7-3) took the loss for Wayne State, pitching all 9.1 innings while allowing six hits and striking out six, allowing only two earned runs. GVSU's Garman tossed 6.0 innings of three-hit ball, yielding one run with three strikeouts and two walks.

Phillips drove in two runs with his HR, while Young collected two hits in four at bats. LB Steve Anderson and Aguirre each doubled, while SS Andrew Trepel singled in four at bats.

"We battled the entire day and kept playing within ourselves," said 13th-year head coach Steve Lyon. "Shankin did a great job against us, but we kept putting together good at bats continued to battle," added Lyon.