ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Grand Valley State baseball team had an offensive outburst on Sunday (Apr. 27), tallying 15 hits, eight of them for extra bases, in a 12-4 win over Findlay at the GVSU Baseball Field. It is the 21st straight victory for the Lakers over the Oilers dating back to 2009.
GVSU is now 27-11 overall on the year with an 18-6 record in the GLIAC, while Findlay falls to 11-27 overall with an 8-20 mark in the conference.
The Lakers will be back in action on Monday (Apr. 28) when they head to Midland, Mich. for a nine-inning game against Northwood at 2 p.m. Live stats for that game will be available by clicking here.
Both teams took advantage of a gusting wind out to left field in the opening inning of the game. After Findlay went up 2-0 in the top of the first on a Reid Rothenbuhler home run, the Lakers responded with a lead-off triple from Stuart Eisler, who came in to score on an RBI groundout, and a solo home run from Zak next to the scoreboard in left-center field, his fourth of the year.
The Oilers took the lead back in the top of the third with an RBI double from Rothenbuhler to make it 3-2, but from there, it was all GVSU.
In the bottom of the fourth, Zak led off the frame with a double in to the left field corner and Giancarlo Brugnoni brought him in with a double of his own to tie the game up at three. It took only two pitches for the Lakers to score their next two runs, as Jesse Abel hit a first-pitch RBI single and Aaron Overbeck followed with a first-pitch RBI double to move the lead out to 5-3. Mitchell Kozlowski collected an RBI single back up the middle a couple batters later to make it a 6-3 game, then stole second and moved to third on a Mike Nadratowski bunt single. With runners on the corners, Nadratowski stole second and Eisler continued his hot weekend with a sacrifice fly in to left field that scored Kozlowski to make it 7-3.
GVSU would score in each of the next three innings as well, getting a two-RBI single from Overbeck in the fifth, an RBI single from Jamie Potts in the sixth and a two-run inside the park home run from Nadratowski in the seventh. Nadratowski hit a ball deep in to right-center field that glanced off the center fielder's glove on a diving effort on the warning track. Nadratowski was running hard the whole way and was rewarded with the home run, crossing the plate standing up without a throw to make it a 12-3 game.Findlay got a single run back in the top of the ninth, but Chris Ward, who came on in relief for the inning, was able to finish the game and preserve the victory on the mound.
Evan Nietfeldt (7-1) went eight innings on the mound, allowing eight hits with seven strikeouts, the most a starting pitcher has recorded for the Lakers so far this season.
Zak was a perfect 4-for-4 from the plate, scoring three runs and driving in one on his home run. He was only a triple shy of the cycle, but did hit his sixth double of the year and stole his 10th base of the season. Overbeck was 2-for-5 with a run scored and three RBI, including his sixth double of the season, while Nadratowski was 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI, including his inside the park home run and three stolen bases, giving him 15 thefts on the year.
