XENIA, Ohio - The Grand Valley State baseball team has advanced to the 2014 GLIAC Baseball Tournament championship game with a 6-2 victory over Lake Erie on Saturday (May 10) afternoon. In the process, senior first baseman Giancarlo Brugnoni became the GLIAC's career home run leader, crushing the record-breaking long ball in the bottom of the seventh.
The victory moves the Lakers to 36-11 on the season, while the Storm fall to 30-19 overall. GVSU advances to the championship game at 12 p.m. on Sunday (May 11), where the Lakers will take on either Lake Erie or Saginaw Valley State. The "if necessary" game would take place at 3 p.m. if they were to defeat the Lakers in the first game on championship day.
SVSU and Wayne State are playing the second game of the day, an elimination game, with the winner moving on to face Lake Erie. The winner of the third game of the day will advance to take on the Lakers in the championship game, having to beat GVSU twice on Sunday to claim the title. The Lakers will have to win one of two possible games to take home the title for the ninth time in 12 tournaments.
The Lakers got on the board early yet again, pushing the first run of the game across in the bottom of the second inning. After Brugnoni beat a shift with a single to left field to lead off the inning, he moved to second on a groundout, putting him in scoring position for Stuart Eisler, who crushed a double in to the left field corner to put GVSU up 1-0.
Lake Erie responded in the top of the third with a lead-off double, RBI single and an RBI double to take a 2-1 lead, but that is where the Lakers would take control.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Taylor Banks got the rally started with a one-out hit by pitch, then moved to third on an Eric Hess single through the right side of the infield. After a Mike Nadratowski walk loaded the bases with one out, Jamie Potts blooped a single in to left-center field to score Banks, and Kevin Zak followed with an RBI groundout to make it 3-2 GVSU.
The Storm put the tying run on second in the top of the seventh with two outs, but the Lakers got out of the inning and it was on to the historic moment.
The rally began with two outs, as Potts singled on an infield chopper and Zak singled on a ball deep in the hole to put two on. Brugnoni then came to the plate and deposited a 2-0 pitch to the opposite field, clearing the right field wall for a three-run homer, the 47th of his career, breaking him out of a tie with current head coach Jamie Detillion for the GLIAC career home run record.
Lake Erie got a bunt single and a one-out single to put two on in the top of the eighth, but a groundout and a flyout got the Lakers out of the inning, while the Storm went down in order in the ninth as the Lakers preserved the victory.
Brugnoni finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs, three RBI and a walk, including his 15th home run of the season. Eisler and Potts each went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Potts also scored once.
Sean Clancy (8-0) kept his record on the year perfect, going seven innings, allowing only six hits with one strikeout. Patrick Kelly pitched two shutout innings in relief to end the game with one strikeout.
