ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Grand Valley State baseball team was triumphant in both games of a doubleheader against Findlay on Saturday (Apr. 26), sweeping the Oilers 2-1 and 6-2 with a walk-off victory in the opener.
The Lakers are now 26-11 overall on the year with a 17-6 mark in the GLIAC, while Findlay falls to 11-26 overall with an 8-19 record in the conference. The same two teams will finish their three-game series on Sunday (Apr. 27) with a nine-inning contest at noon at the GVSU Baseball Field. The game will be webcast live on the Grand Valley Sports Network here on gvsulakers.com.
In what turned out to be a marathon of a first game, the Lakers were threatening early and often, putting at least two runners on base with one out in each of the first three innings. The second inning, however, was the only one the Lakers were able to push a run across in. After Aaron Overbeck led off with a single, Stuart Eisler did the same to put two on with nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt put both runners in scoring position,Joel Schipper brought the first run in with an RBI groundout to second to give GVSU an early 1-0 lead.
The game moved swiftly from there, as the teams reached the seventh inning in only an hour. However, in the seventh, Findlay was able to stave off the defeat, albeit temporary, with a single, sacrifice bunt and RBI single down the right field line to tie the game at one.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Lakers loaded the bases with two out, but a strikeout moved the game to the ninth.
Finally, in the bottom of the 11th, GVSU was able to walk-off with the victory, as Schipper capped a two-out rally for the Lakers. After a grounder back to the pitcher from Eisler that bounced away and allowed him to reach, Eisler stole second and was followed with a Taylor Banks hit by pitch to put two on. Schipper then came to the plate and pulled a ground ball just past the diving second baseman to bring Eisler around to score and give GVSU the 2-1 win.
Eisler was the only Laker with multiple hits in the game, going 3-for-5 with the game-winning run. Schipper was 1-for-5 with two RBI.
Starter Aaron Jensen was stellar on the mound, going eight innings, allowing only five hits and one run with three strikeouts. Chris Ripple threw two hitless innings of relief with three strikeouts, while Dan Saier (2-1) earned the victory with one inning of shutout relief.
In game two, the Laker offense was much more productive, and gave starter Kevin Hallberg early run support.
In the bottom of the first inning, Eisler and Jamie Potts singled to begin the game, and Eisler moved to third on a ground ball by Kevin Zak. Giancarlo Brugnoni then lifted a sacrifice fly down the right field line that Eisler scored on to make it 1-0.
Another Laker rally started in the bottom of the third with an Eisler single, but he was retired on a Potts ground ball back to the pitcher that Potts was able to reach on. After Zak singled in to left field, both he and Potts ended up in scoring position when the ball bounced off the fielder's glove after one hop and Brugnoni followed with a walk that loaded the bases. Jesse Abel was to deliver with a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left field that scored Potts, and Overbeck made it a 3-0 game with a double just inside the third-base bag that scored Zak.
GVSU kept pouring it on in the bottom of the fourth with another two-out rally. After the first two batters of the frame were retired, Eisler doubled down the left field line and came in to score when Potts singled in to left field. With Potts on second, Zak then singled back up the middle, scoring Potts to push the lead out to 5-0.
The Lakers got an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Schipper came in to score on a wild pitch after reaching with a lead-off walk and traversing to third with a stolen base and a groundout.
With GVSU leading 6-0, Findlay wouldn't go down without a fight, scraping two runs across with two hits and help from a Laker error to make it a 6-2 final.
Eisler, leading off for the first time in his GVSU career, went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and his fifth double of the year. Potts was 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI, while Zak was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. The top three in the lineup went a combined 7-for-11 with five runs scored in the game.
Hallberg (2-1) earned the victory on the mound, pitching a season-high 6.1 innings, allowing five hits and no earned runs with six strikeouts, matching the most by a Laker starting pitcher so far this year. Saier, in his second appearance of the day, got the final two outs in relief.
