April 12, 2014
Game One Box Score (10-1 W)
Game Two Box Score (5-2 W)
NORTH CANTON, Ohio - The 15th-ranked Grand Valley State baseball team got a huge performance from Giancarlo Brugnoni on Saturday (Apr. 12), helping the Lakers to a doubleheader sweep of Walsh. GVSU won game one, 10-1, before picking up a 5-2 victory in the nightcap.
The sweep moves the Lakers to 23-7 overall on the year with a 14-2 record in the GLIAC. Walsh falls to 16-18 overall with an 8-8 mark in the conference. GVSU has now won a season-high seven straight games.
The two teams will finish up their three-game series on Sunday (Apr. 13) with a nine-inning game beginning at 1 p.m.
In game one, it was the Brugnoni show, as he single-handedly pushed six runs across the plate in the first two innings to lead the team to victory.
In the top of the first inning, Mike Nadratowski was hit by a pitch and Jesse Abel walked to lead things off. After a strikeout, Brugnoni came to the plate and belted his 40th career home run, a three-run shot, to stake the Lakers to an early lead. With the homer, Brugnoni became only the second player in GLIAC history to surpass the 40 HR mark in conference history.
The scoring didn't ease up in the top of the second, as Taylor Banks reached base on an error to begin the inning and Stuart Eisler was hit by a pitch. After Ariel Aracena-Sanchez singled to load the bases with nobody out, Nadratowski came to the plate and hit a single in to center field to make it a 4-0 game. Abel then hit in to a fielder's choice that brought Eisler in to score and Kevin Zak followed with an RBI single that scored Aracena-Sanchez to make it a 6-0 game.
With runners on first and second, Walsh made a pitching change as Brugnoni strolled to the plate, but it didn't make a difference, as Brugnoni connected with his second three-run homer of the game to push the lead to 9-0.
The Lakers added one more in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Nadratowski that scored Aaron Overbeck, who doubled to lead off the inning.
Meanwhile, Aaron Jensen (5-2) kept rolling through the Walsh lineup, surrendering only six hits and one run in a complete game effort to earn his fifth victory of the year.
Brugnoni finished game one 3-for-3 with two runs, six RBI and a walk. Nadratowski was 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI, while Abel and Zak each drove a run in, as well.
In the nightcap, it was a big third inning that put the Lakers out in front early. Jamie Potts drew a one-out walk and Zak singled to put two on, bringing Brugnoni to the plate. He was able to deliver again, driving in Potts with an RBI single. Overbeck followed with an RBI single of his own and both he and Brugnoni moved in to scoring position on a wild pitch for Eisler, who drove them both in with a two-RBI single that made it a 4-0 game.
Walsh cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run homer, but the Lakers were able to push the lead back out to three with an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a two-out rally. After the first two Lakers were retired, Eisler was hit by a pitch, then stole second and moved to third on an error. Joel Schipper then singled in to left field, making it a 5-2 game.
Chris Ripple entered the game to nail down the save in the seventh and despite giving up a one-out double, was able to collect his ninth save of the season with a scoreless frame.
Evan Nietfeldt (6-0) earned yet another victory, going six innings, allowing five hits and two runs with three strikeouts.
Potts and Zak each had two hits in the game, while Brugnoni and Overbeck both had one hit, scored once and drove in one. Eisler was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI. Brugnoni in the game was intentionally walked twice, only thesecond time that has happened to a GVSU hitter since 2000.
