April 18, 2014
Game One Box Score (3-2 L)
Game Two Box Score (7-5 L)
PAINESVILLE, Ohio - The 16th-ranked Grand Valley State baseball team dropped a pair of GLIAC games to Lake Erie on Friday (Apr. 18), falling in game one by a 3-2 score and dropping game two, 7-5.
The Lakers fall to 24-10 overall on the year and 15-5 in the GLIAC, while Lake Erie moves to 22-14 on the season with a 16-7 mark in the conference.
GVSU and Lake Erie will finish up the three-game series with a nine-inning game at noon on Saturday (Apr. 19).
In the opening game of the series, it was errors that did the Lakers in.
GVSU got out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth, as the Lakers staged a two-out rally. After a single by Ariel Aracena-Sanchez, Mike Nadratowski hit a double down the right field line to go up 1-0, then moved ahead 2-0 with an RBI triple by Jamie Potts.
The Storm answered with one run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single to cut the lead in half.
In the bottom of the sixth, Lake Erie threatened in a big way, loading the bases with nobody out after two Laker errors. Starter Aaron Jensen did a great job working out of the jam, surrendering the tying run on a sacrifice fly for the first out, but got a strikeout and line out to end the inning with a 2-2 tie.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Storm had a man on first with two outs, but an error in the outfield led to the winning run crossing the plate for the 3-2 victory.
Jensen (5-3) was strong on the mound, surrendering only five hits and one earned run with five strikeouts in 6.2 innings of work.
Aracena-Sanchez went 2-for-3 with a run scored in the game, while Potts and Nadratowski each had one hit and one RBI, including Potts' fourth triple of the year.
In game two, the Lakers took the first lead of the game again, this time with a home run from Giancarlo Brugnoni in the top of the first. After Nadratowski singled to lead off the game, then Kevin Zak singled to put two on before Brugnoni was able to power his 12th home run of the season over the right-center field wall for an early 3-0 lead.
Lake Erie got a solo home run of their own in the bottom of the third ot make it 3-1, then took the lead with a three-run homer of their own in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-3.
The Storm got another solo home run to lead off the top of the fifth, then got an RBI single and an RBI ground out that made it a 7-3 game.
GVSU got one of the runs back in the top of the sixth on a Storm error in the outfield that scored Aaron Overbeck, who singled with two outs in the inning.
In the top of the seventh, trailing 7-4, Potts hit his third home run of the season and third in as many games, a solo shot, but that was as close as the Lakers would get, as the Storm would nail down the 7-5 victory.
Potts finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI off his home run, while Brugnoni was 1-for-3 with a run scored and three RBI with his home run. Nadratowski, Zak and Overbeck all had one hit and a run scored in the contest.
Russell Griffin (3-2) took the loss on the mound, striking out two in four innings of work, while Kevin Hallberg contributed two hitless innings of relief with one strikeout.
