ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Grand Valley State baseball team finished up a season sweep of Northwood on Wednesday (Apr. 30), taking both ends of a doubleheader against the Timberwolves with 10-5 and 7-3 victories.
The pair of wins moves the Lakers to 30-11 overall with a 21-6 record in the GLIAC. The Timberwolves fall to 16-26 overall on the year with an 8-20 mark in the conference.
GVSU will finish out the regular season with a three-game home series against Malone beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday (May 3) at 1 p.m., followed by a nine-inning game on Sunday (May 4) at noon as the Lakers celebrate Senior Day.
In the opening game on Wednesday, the Lakers used a consistent offense to take control, scoring at least one run in all six innings that GVSU got to come to the plate.
The Lakers got on top early in game one of the twinbill, as Mike Nadratowski led off the bottom of the first with a walk, stole second, then came in to score on a Kevin Zak RBI single.
In the bottom of the second, Nadratowski got in to a ball that cleared the right field fence just down the line, as he hit his second home run in the last three games after having no home runs in his first nearly three years as a Laker. The two-run shot brought Stuart Eisler in to score, who singled on a bunt to lead off the inning.
Trailing 3-0, Northwood was able to get two runs back in the top of the third, getting an RBI groundout and a fielder's choice that brought another run in.
The Lakers responded in the bottom half of the inning, again with a home run, and again of the two-run variety, this time off the bat of Aaron Overbeck, who brought Giancarlo Brugnoni in to score after he walked.
Leading 5-2, the Lakers allowed Northwood to push another run across in the top of the fourth with a sac fly, but got the run back in the bottom of the inning with a Jamie Potts RBI single that scored Taylor Banks.
The two teams exchanged single tallies again in the fifth, as Northwood got another sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 6-4, but again the Lakers answered, getting a sacrifice of their own off the bat of Eisler that scored Brugnoni to push the lead back to 7-4.
Northwood ended its scoring in the top of the sixth with a steal of home base with runners on the corners, as the throw went down to second, allowing the runner from third to score.
The Lakers pushed three insurance runs across in the bottom of the sixth, however, getting an RBI single from Zak and a two-RBI double from Jesse Abel to make it a 10-5 game.
Chris Ripple, who came in with one out to get in the sixth, nailed down the seventh inning as well en route to his 11th save of the season. Russell Griffin (4-2) earned the victory on the mound, pitching the first four innings, allowing four hits with two strikeouts. Dan Saier pitched 1.2 innings in relief with one hit allowed, while Ripple had 1.1 innings on the mound with no hits allowed and two strikeouts.
Both Zak and Overbeck had two hits and two RBI in the game, while Overbeck scored twice and Zak once. Overbeck's homer was his fourth of the year, while Nadratowski finished 1-for-3 with two runs, two RBI, a walk, and a stolen base. Potts also had two hits, going 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, including his 13th stolen base of the year, whiel Abel was 1-for-3 with two RBI on his eighth double of the season.
In the nightcap, Northwood was able to hold the Laker offense down at least a little bit longer, but GVSU broke through eventually in the bottom of the third, getting a two-run homer from Kevin Zak down the left field line to put the Lakers up 2-0 early.
The Timberwolves responded by taking the lead in the top of the fourth, getting a two-RBI single and sacrifice fly to go up 3-2, before the Laker bats took control.
In the bottom of the fourth, GVSU answered with a big five-run inning, getting an RBI double from Potts, a run off a wild pitch with the bases loaded, an RBI single by Overbeck and a two-RBI single by Abel.
The Lakers' relief pitching was stellar in game two, combining for 3.2 innings of one-hit relief with two strikeouts.Kevin Hallberg (3-1) earned the victory with one inning of hitless relief, while Saier threw 1.2 innings of perfect baseball and Jordan Drake posted a shutout in the seventh inning with two strikeouts.
Overbeck led the offense in game two, going 3-for-3 with an RBI with his first stolen base of the year, while Abel and Zak each had one hit and two RBI, with Zak also scoring twice. Zak's home run was his fifth of the year.
