May 4, 2011
Game One Box Score (7-6 W)
Game Two Box Score (1-0 W)
Allendale, Mich. - It was a day of milestones for the 2nd-ranked Laker baseball team on Wednesday (May 4). GVSU came back from a two-run deficit in their last set of at-bats in game one to win 7-6 over Northwood and then three-hit the Timberwolves in a 1-0 victory in the nightcap. The pair of victories puts the Laker winning streak at 21, matching the school record set in 2006. The first victory of the day gave GVSU their 40th victory of the season while the second win was the Lakers' 30th GLIAC triumph of the year, the first time any school has hit the 30-win mark in conference history.
Outscoring opponents 73-5 in the first inning this year, it was GVSU who was on the outside looking in after one inning of play in game one. Northwood used a bases-loaded walk and sacrifice fly to put two runs up in the first frame to take an early lead. They extended the lead to 5-0 with an RBI double and two-run homer from Lechner in the second inning to put GVSU in an early hole.
The mark of a great team is not giving up, however, and the 2011 Lakers are proving to be just that as they began their comeback in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman Giancarlo Brugnoni and senior Andrew Trepel led off the frame with two straight singles before moving to second and third on a wild pitch. Senior Dan Ponegalek brought both of them in with a single through the right side to cut the lead to 5-2. Ponegalek ended up at second on the throw and junior Zach Laupp plated him with an RBI single back up the middle to make it a 5-3 game.
The Lakers cut the lead down one more in the bottom of the third as a two-out double over the right fielder's head by Brugnoni led to an RBI single from Trepel to make it a 5-4 game.
GVSU had a golden chance to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases with nobody out thanks to two errors and a single. However, a pop-up and two straight swinging strikeouts got Northwood out of trouble with the 5-4 lead in tact.
After the Timberwolves added a single run in the top of the fifth to make it a 6-4 game, the Lakers were down to their last chance in the bottom of the seventh, still down two. The frame began with two consecutive singles from juniors Cody Grice and Steve Anderson that put runners at the corners. Brugnoni then reached on a fielding error by the shortstop, scoring Grice to make it a 6-5 game with runners on first and second and nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt from Trepel moved the runners to second and third, they walked Ponegalek to load the bases with one out. Sophomore Chris Rudenga then pinch-hit for Laupp to try and stay out of the potential double play with Rudenga's speed. In a stroke of luck and with pressure on the fielder from Rudenga's speed, Rudenga hit a tailor-made double-play ball to short that was bobbled and everyone was safe, including the tying run at the plate as Anderson scored to make it 6-6. Senior Cory Phillips then came to the plate and lifted a fly ball into left field that the outfielder made a great diving catch on, but it was enough for Brugnoni to score from third on the sacrifice fly to give the Lakers a walk-off victory, 7-6.
Junior Chris Whitney struggled in two innings of work in his start, allowing five hits and five runs while striking out one. Junior Cory Rademacher pitched three innings of one-hit relief while striking out two. Juniors Jacob Cox and Brett Gwaltney each pitched a hitless inning of relief, with Gwaltney earning his first victory as a Laker.
Trepel, after struggling to a .172 average after a doubleheader on April 3rd, has hit .386 since then and has his average at .289 after going 3-for-4 on the day, including going 2-for-3 in the first game with a run scored and one RBI. Brugnoni went 2-for-4 with three runs and one RBI in the game while Grice had the only other multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with one run. Ponegalek was 1-for-2 with two RBI while Laupp, Rudenga and Phillips all had one RBI in the contest.
Game two was a stark contrast to the opener runs-wise, but a nailbiter none the less. Freshman Cody Westerhuis gave up a lead-off single to Northwood to begin the game, but held the Timberwolves without a hit until a two-out single in the fourth inning.
The single Laker run came in the bottom of the fifth inning as junior Jared Cowan led off the frame with a double into the right field gap. Phillips pinch-ran for Cowan and it was junior Blake Batteast who was the hero, lacing a single right past the first baseman into right field with the corner infielders in that scored Phillips for the lone run of the game. After a sacrifice bunt moved Batteast to second, a fly ball and a pop-up in foul territory to third ended the inning for GVSU with a one-run lead.
Cox came in to pitch his second inning of hitless relief on the day in the sixth with two strikeouts and it was sophomore Brad Zambron who came on to get the save in the seventh with one strikeout. It was his seventh save of the season, the third highest total in single season history at GVSU. Westerhuis moved to 4-0 on the season with the victory, going five innings and allowing three hits while striking out four.
Batteast finished the game 1-for-2 with one RBI while Cowan, junior Garrett Yatch and senior Torre Aguirre each went 1-for-2. Trepel went 1-for-1 while junior Derrik Strzalkowski was 1-for-3 in the game.
The shutout was the eighth of the year for the Lakers, the most in a season since 2007 when GVSU put together nine games where the opponents were blanked in the run column. The pair of wins also gave head coach Steve Lyon 498 career victories with the Lakers, placing him on the brink of the 500-win milestone that he will have a chance to reach this weekend when GVSU takes on Ohio Dominican on Saturday (May 7) at 1 p.m. in a home GLIAC doubleheader.
