April 1, 2012
Game One Box Score (7-1 L)
Game Two Box Score (9-2 W)
Allendale, Mich. - The #20 Grand Valley State baseball team experienced two big innings on Sunday (Apr. 1), one against them and one for them, which led to a split with GLIAC rival Ashland. The Lakers fell 7-1 in game one but came back for a 9-2 victory in the nightcap.
Game one turned out to be a game to forget for the Lakers. Ashland scored one run in the top of the second after an error in the outfield allowed a man from second to come around and score. The Eagles then put the game away with a six-run third inning. Ashland put seven straight men on in the inning, including six straight hits at one point.
Brad Thomas on the mound for Ashland was baffling the Lakers all game long, going the distance and allowing only four hits, one walk and one run, a solo shot off the bat of sophomore Giancarlo Brugnoni to lead off the seventh as Ashland took game one, 7-1.
GVSU managed only four hits in the opener, with Brugnoni's offense leading the way, going 1-for-3 with his team-leading fourth homer of the season. Freshman Mike Nadratowski went 1-for-3, while senior Derrik Strzalkowski went 1-for-2 with a walk and redshirt freshman Kevin Zak went 1-for-1.
Game two saw the scripts get flipped. This time it was the Lakers with the big inning, this time in the second.
Brugnoni got things started with a single just inside the third base bag to lead off the inning and after a sacrifice bunt moved him to second, a single to right field by Zak brought the first run in. The parade of Laker hitters going to the plate started after that as consecutive singles from junior Stephen Claypool, junior Chris Rudenga, freshman Lance Buitendyk and freshman Mike Nadratowski brought in four more runs to make it a 5-0 game. After a fly out became the second out in the frame, three more straight singles, this time from senior Steve Anderson, Brugnoni and Strzalkowski, brought home two more runs to put GVSU up 7-0.
Ashland picked up single runs in the fourth and sixth innings and the Lakers put two more marks on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth to cruise to victory, 9-2, in the nightcap.
Junior Anthony Campanella (2-1) earned the victory, throwing six innings and allowing six hits and two runs with three strikeouts.
Offensively, a handful of Lakers had two hits each, led by Nadratowski and Buitendyk each notching two hits and two RBI. Nadratowski also scored twice with Buitendyk crossing the plate once. Anderson finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs, an RBI and his seventh double of the season. Brugnoni and Zak each finished with two hits, one run and one RBI.
Aaron Hilt (4-3) took the loss for the Eagles, struggling through 1.2 innings, allowing eight hits and seven runs. Jake Baldwin pitched the final 4.1 innings for Ashland, allowing five hits and two runs (none earned) with three strikeouts.
With the split, the Lakers move to 14-8 on the year and keep their conference record even at 4-4. Ashland now sits at 13-11 overall and 5-5 in the GLIAC.
GVSU will have a mid-week tilt this week, traveling to Hillsdale on Tuesday (Apr. 3) for a doubleheader slated to begin at 2 p.m.
