March 9, 2014
Game One Box Score (5-4 W)
Game Two Box Score (11-3 W)
CLEARWATER, Fla. - The seventh-ranked Grand Valley State baseball team picked up two more victories on Sunday (Mar. 9), sweeping Upper Iowa in a doubleheader at Jack Russell Memorial Stadium. The Lakers won a tight first game, 5-4, before rolling to an 11-3 victory in the nightcap.
The pair of victories moves GVSU to 7-3 overall on the season, while Upper Iowa is now 3-3 on the year.
The Lakers will finish up their Florida spring trip with a pair of nine-inning games on Monday (Mar. 10), as GVSU will face No. 3 Minnesota State at 3 p.m. before taking on Winona State at 6:30 p.m. at Lake Myrtle Field #3 in Auburndale.
In the opener on Sunday, the Lakers broke out the big bats early on, scoring in the first inning for the sixth time in the last seven games, with the first three runs of the game coming from long balls.
Mike Nadratowski led off the game with a bunt single on the first pitch of the contest, then with the second pitch, Jesse Abel crushed a ball deep over the left field fence to get the Lakers out to a 2-0 lead only a couple pitches in to the game. After a fly out, Giancarlo Brugnoni extended that lead to 3-0 with his fourth home run of the season, this one a towering shot over the three story scoreboard in left-center field. Aaron Overbeck followed with a single, then moved to second on a wild pitch, setting up the fourth run of the game which was driven in by Jamie Potts on a double in to the left field gap to make it a 4-0 GVSU lead.
Upper Iowa battled back in the next half-inning, getting a lead-off double and a single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. After a single on a slow grounder down the third-base line loaded the bases, a fielder's choice and an error brought the first run in to make it 4-1. With the bases still loaded, the Lakers were able to induce a double play that allowed a run to score to make it a 4-2 game, but got out of trouble with a groundout to end the inning.
The Peacocks were able to draw even in the game in the bottom of the third, getting a lead-off walk and a double to put two runners in scoring position. A groundout brought the third run home to make it a 4-3 game, while the tying run came in with another RBI groundout by the next batter.
The Lakers responded in the next half-inning themselves, getting a lead-off double from Potts, his second of the game, and a bunt single by Stuart Eisler to put runners on the corners. After a stolen base put both runners in scoring position, Nadratowski lifted a sacrifice fly to center field, which turned out to be the game-winning run, as GVSU led 5-4 after the top of the fourth.
Upper Iowa threatened in the bottom of the fourth inning, getting two straight walks to begin the frame before Dan Saier made his season debut and induced a double play and a pop-up to end the threat.
They got another shot in the bottom of the seventh, staging a two-out rally with a single to left and a bloop single down the right field line to put runners on the corners. A groundball back up the middle, however, was snagged by Kevin Zak, who made the play at second to preserve the victory.
Saier (1-0) got the victory with three innings of stellar relief, allowing only two hits with three strikeouts. Chris Ripple picked up his third save of the season with an inning of scoreless relief in the seventh.
The offense had four players register two-hit games, led by Abel's 2-for-4 performance with one run and two RBI, coming off his first home run of the season. Potts went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, including two doubles. Eisler was 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, while Nadratowski went 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI and Brugnoni finished 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI, both coming off his fourth home run of the season.
In the second game of the day, the Lakers didn't score in the first inning and actually fell behind early as Upper Iowa put a run on the board in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly to go ahead 1-0.
From there, however, it was all GVSU, as the Lakers responded with five runs in the bottom of the second. After Eisler walked and Mitchell Kozlowski was hit by a pitch, Scott Young sacrificed both runners in to scoring position and Joel Schipper tied the game at one with an RBI single up the box in to center field. After an Abel walk loaded the bases, Zak singled in to left field to put the Lakers up 2-1 and keep the bases loaded. Brugnoni extended the lead even further with a two-RBI single through the left side of the infield that made it a 4-1 game. The scoring closed after Potts hit an RBI single through the right side of the infield that scored Zak and the Lakers held a 5-1 lead.
Upper Iowa showed resiliency yet again, getting two of those runs back in the top of the third with the help of five hits, getting two RBI singles to cut the lead to 5-3.
GVSU had another answer in the bottom half of the inning with a similar situation as the second. Kozlowski walked and Young was hit by a pitch, then both runners were sacrificed over in to scoring position by Schipper. Abel capitalized, singling through the left side of the infield to drive both of them in and move the lead out to 7-3.
A Zak single and Brugnoni walk loaded the bases again and after Upper Iowa was able to get one out at the plate, they were unable to escape unscathed, as Potts drew a bases-loaded walk to put GVSU up 8-3.
The Lakers added three more in the bottom of the fifth, mostly with two outs. Zak had a one-out single, then a hit by pitch and error loaded the bases with two out. Eisler came to the plate and laced a two-RBI single in to center field, then was followed by Kozlowski, who hit an RBI single up the middle to make it an 11-3 game.
Sean Clancy (1-0) got the victory on the mound, throwing the first complete game of the season for GVSU. Clancy scattered 10 hits and struck out four without walking anyone in his seven innings of work. He needed only 86 pitches to get through all seven innings.
Zak had a breakout game at the plate, going 4-for-4 with three runs, a walk, RBI and a stolen base. His four hits are the most by a Laker so far this season. Kozlowski went 2-for-2 with a walk, two runs scored and an RBI, while Abel went 2-for-3 with a walk, run and two RBI, giving him four on the day. Brugnoni, Potts and Eisler each had one hit, two RBI and a walk in the game.
