March 31, 2014
Game One Box Score (7-4 L)
Game Two Box Score (9-8 W)
TIFFIN, Ohio - The 17th-ranked Grand Valley State baseball team saw its six-game winning streak snapped in game one, but still earned a split against Tiffin on Monday (Mar. 31), falling in the opener 7-4 before taking the nightcap, 9-8.
The split moves the Lakers to 16-6 overall on the season with a 7-1 record in the GLIAC, while Tiffin is now 5-20 overall with a 4-4 record in the conference.
The two teams will finish up the three-game series with a nine-inning contest on Tuesday (Apr. 1) at noon in Tiffin.
In the opener, the Lakers appeared to be in control behind strong pitching from starter Evan Nietfeldt and support from the Laker offense. In the top of the fourth inning, Jamie Potts brought the first run in with an RBI single that scored Brugnoni.
In the top of the fifth, GVSU added three more on back-to-back bombs from Kevin Zak and Brugnoni, Zak's of the two-run variety, to give the Lakers a 4-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, however, with the Dragons still without a hit, Tiffin took advantage of four Laker errors and four hits in the inning to push seven runs across the plate and take the 7-4 lead.
GVSU was able to load the bases with two outs in the top of the seventh to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, but a strikeout ended the game and gave the Dragons the victory with seven unearned runs.
The offense was led by Zak, who went 1-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI, all off his home run. Brugnoni was 1-for-2 with two runs and two walks in the contest.
The starter, Nietfeldt, allowed only two hits in 4.2 innings of work with two strikeouts. Dan Saier (1-1) took the tough-luck loss, allowing one hit in his appearance, but the error-laden fifth inning led to the Dragon victory.
In game two, it seemed as if the Lakers rebounded in a big way, jumping out to a 9-0 lead in the first three innings of play.
In the top of the first, a Potts sacrifice fly and a wild pitch with the bases loaded scored two early runs for the Lakers.
The big inning came in the top of the second, as Scott Young and Mike Nadratowski led the inning off with singles and a sacrifice bunt moved them in to scoring position. Jesse Abel brought one run in with an RBI groundout to make it 3-0, then Zak hit his third home run in as many games to push the lead out to 5-0.
After Brugnoni was hit by a pitch, Potts tripled him in to push the lead to 6-0, then came in to score when Aaron Overbeck reached on an infield error that made it a 7-0 game.
A two-RBI single by Zak in the top of the third with the bases loaded pushed the lead out to 9-0 before Tiffin got on the board with four runs in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 9-4.
The Dragons weren't done there, inching closer with another big fifth inning, using five hits and taking advantage of two wild pitches to cut the Lakers lead to 9-8.
Chris Ripple had maybe the biggest performance of the day, as the closer came in with the tying run on third base in the fifth inning and got out of the jam with the lead. In the bottom of the sixth, after a lead-off single, stolen base and a fly out that moved the runner to third with one out, Ripple buckled down again and got a groundout and strikeout to keep the lead at 9-8. He then retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the victory and nail down the save with 2.1 innings of relief.
Junior Adam Poel (1-0) earned his first victory as a Laker in his start, allowing four hits in four innings with three strikeouts. Ripple's save was his sixth of the season, as he struck out one and allowed one hit in 2.1 innings.
The offense was led by Zak, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, four RBI and his third home run in three games. Potts was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI, including a triple. Joel Schipper, Abel, Brugnoni and Nadratowski each had one hit and scored once, while Young had one hit and scored twice.
