April 17, 2014
Box Score
UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The 16th-ranked Grand Valley State baseball team had one of the best offensive days in school history on Thursday (Apr. 17), rolling Saginaw Valley State by a 22-7 score behind five GVSU home runs, including two each from Giancarlo Brugnoni and Jamie Potts.
The victory moves the Lakers to 24-8 overall with a 15-3 record in the conference, while the Cardinals fall to 9-19 overall with a 6-12 mark in the GLIAC.
GVSU will now head to Lake Erie to continue its road trip, taking on the Storm in a doubleheader on Friday (Apr. 18) beginning at 1 p.m. to start a three-game series.
The Lakers led from wire-to-wire, getting out to an early lead in the top of the first inning. Mike Nadratowski led off with a walk, and a single and hit by pitch loaded the bases with nobody out to bring Brugnoni to the plate. A bases loaded walk to him pushed the first run across, and an Aaron Overbeck two-RBI single made it a 3-0 game.
After SVSU cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the first, the Lakers poured another four runs on the lead in the top of the second with an emphatic response that included three GVSU home runs in the inning.
Potts hit his first home run of the season with one out and two batters later, Brugnoni came to the plate with the bases empty and went deep as well, pushing the lead out to 5-1. Another two batters later, Overbeck continued his big game with his third home run of the season, a two-run shot that made it a 7-1 game.
The big inning came in the top of the fourth, when GVSU sent 12 hitters to the plate and scored eight runs. The inning was highlighted by Brugnoni's second long ball of the game, a two-run shot after Kevin Zak singled to lead off the inning. Stuart Eisler had a two-RBI single with the bases loaded later in the inning, followed by a sacrifice fly from Nadratowski, a two-RBI double from Potts and an RBI double from Zak that made it a 15-1 game.
GVSU brought another 11 hitters to the plate in the top of the eighth, where the Lakers brought another six runs across the plate, highlighted by two-RBI singles from Eric Hess and Ariel Aracena-Sanchez that made it a 21-5 lead.
The Lakers ended their scoring with a lead-off home run by Potts in the top of the ninth, his second of the game. GVSU was then able to coast to the 22-7 victory.
GVSU had five multi-hit performances in the game and even more amazingly, seven multi-RBI performances.
Potts, Brugnoni and Overbeck all drove in four runs each, with Potts going 4-for-5 with five runs scored, which tied a GVSU single-game record, and two home runs, his first two of the season. Brugnoni was 3-for-4 with two runs and a walk and now sits at 11 home runs on the year and 43 for his career, only three away from tying the GLIAC career record. Overbeck was 2-for-3 with two runs and a home run.
Zak, Hess, Eisler and Aracena-Sanchez each drove in two, with Zak going 3-for-5 with three runs scored.
Senior Sean Clancy (5-0) was the beneficiary on the mound from all that offense, as he went 7.2 innings, allowing only one earned run with four strikeouts to stay undefeated on the year.
The five home runs by the Lakers tied the highest total for a GVSU squad in a single game, matching the number that the Lakers hit against Hillsdale (3/31/2010) and Salem International (3/18/2006). They also tied the record for most hit-by-pitches in a single game with seven, matching the number the Lakers racked up against Mary (3/3/2011).
Potts' 11 total bases in the game is tied for the third-most since 2000, while the team's 22 runs scored and 22 RBI were both tied for the fourth-most since 2000. The 22 runs scored is the most for the Lakers since scoring 22 against Hillsdale on April 5th, 2011.
