March 26, 2014

Game One Box Score (12-1 W)

Game Two Box Score (13-8 W)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The 18th-ranked Grand Valley State baseball team had a huge day offensively on Wednesday (Mar. 26), sweeping Hillsdale in a doubleheader at the Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex, 12-1 and 13-8. In game two, senior Ariel Aracena-Sanchez hit a grand slam and tied the GVSU single-game record of seven RBI.

The sweep moves the Lakers to 15-5 overall with a perfect 6-0 mark in the GLIAC, while Hillsdale falls to 5-15 overall with a 3-3 record in the conference.

GVSU will now prepare for a huge conference series at Ashland, Ohio this weekend. The Lakers will play the Eagles in a three-game series between two perennial GLIAC powers, with the first two games coming on Saturday (Mar. 29) at 1 p.m. with a doubleheader. The series will finish with a nine-inning contest at noon on Sunday (Mar. 30).

In game one, GVSU took control early and never looked back despite playing in below-freezing temperatures. It took only two batters for the Lakers to put up their first run of the game, as Mike Nadratowski led off the bottom of the first with a walk, stole second and came in to score on a Jesse Abel RBI single just over the second baseman's head.

The Lakers tightened the grip on their lead in the bottom of the second, pushing five runs across despite only having one hit. Jamie Potts walked and then stole second, and Taylor Banks followed with a walk of his own. After a successful double steal of second and third, Stuart Eisler got hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out and Joel Schipper drew a walk to make it a 2-0 game. After a pitching change, Nadratowski lifted a sacrifice fly in to right field that made it 3-0 and an Abel two-RBI triple in to left field cleared the bases and gave GVSU a 5-0 lead. Abel then came in to score on a sacrifice fly from Kevin Zak to push the lead out to 6-0.

GVSU put up single tallies in both the third and fourth innings before Hillsdale was able to scratch across a run in the top of the fifth to make it an 8-1 game.

The Lakers answered with another huge inning in the bottom of the sixth, pushing four runs across to make it a no-doubter, taking the opening game by a 12-1 score.

Abel led the offense in game one, going 2-for-2 with one run and three RBI, including his first triple of the year. Zak finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI. As a team, the Lakers stole eight bases on the day, including two by Nadratowski, who went 1-for-1 with two runs, an RBI and a walk, and three stolen bases by Potts, who was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI in the game.

Russell Griffin got the victory to moave to 2-0 on the year with six strong innings of work, allowing only five hits and one run with four strikeouts. Dan Saier threw a scoreless inning in relief to finish the game.

In game two, it was more of the same early on for GVSU. Despite falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, the Laker bats stayed hot, answering quickly in the bottom half of the inning with another five-spot, with all the damage coming with two outs.

After the first two hitters grounded out, Zak came to the plate and in a nine-pitch at-bat that included five foul balls, Zak won the battle, hitting a home run over the left field wall to tie the game up at one.

After a Giancarlo Brugnoni single and two walks loaded the bases with two out, Aracena-Sanchez came to the plate and crushed a ball down the left field line that snuck over the fence for a grand slam, his third home run of the year, to kickstart his huge game as the Lakers led 5-1.

In the bottom of the second, GVSU began the inning with Abel reaching second on a dropped fly ball and Zak took advantage, driving him in with an RBI single to left-center field. After Zak stole second, Brugnoni followed with a towering fly ball to the opposite field that fell in front of the fence for an RBI triple that made it a 7-1 advantage. He then came in to score two batters later when Potts hit a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 8-1.

Hillsdale began battling back in the top of the third, using three Laker errors to push two runs across in the inning and cut the lead to 8-3.

In the bottom of the third, the Lakers got one back, as Abel hit an RBI double down the third-base line that scored Eisler, who walked to lead off the inning.

GVSU moved in to double digits in the bottom of the fourth, putting together a two-out rally that included an RBI single by Aracena-Sanchez that scored Potts to make it 10-3.

The Chargers put up three runs in the top of the fifth and two runs in the top of the sixth to make things uncomfortable for the Lakers at 10-8, but a three-run bottom of the sixth put the game away. The inning was highlighted by a two-RBI triple from Aracena-Sanchez that scored Potts and Mitchell Kozlowski, then Aracena-Sanchez himself came in to score on an RBI groundout from Patrick Bobolts to make it 13-8.

Aracena-Sanchez's huge line in the game was 3-for-4 with two runs scored, a GVSU single game-tying seven RBI and a grand slam, his third long ball of the year. Zak went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, including his first round-tripper of the season. Brugnoni went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, while Potts scored three times in the game.

Sean Clancy got the victory on the mound, going 4.2 innings with one strikeout as he was backed sufficiently by the potent Laker offense. Kevin Hallberg got his first career save as a Laker with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.