EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The 22nd-ranked Grand Valley State baseball team got its regional tournament off to a winning start on Thursday (May 15), defeating Lake Erie, 9-4, in the opening game of the 2014 NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament.
The Lakers are now 38-11 on the season, while Lake Erie falls to 31-21 overall. GVSU will play in the final game of day two on Friday (May 16) at 8 p.m., taking on the winner of the Drury/Wayne State contest.
After both teams put a runner at second in the first inning but failed to score, the Lakers broke through in the bottom of the second with help from a Lake Erie error. After Stuart Eisler reached on a one-out walk and Taylor Banks singled to center, Eric Hess grounded a ball to third that got bobbled by the fielder and allowed Eisler to evade the tag, loading the bases with one out.
Mike Nadratowski then came to the plate and brought the first run in by lifting a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Eisler to put GVSU up 1-0.
The Lakers added to their lead in the bottom of the fourth, beginning with a lead-off walk by Banks, sacrifice bunt by Hess, and a Nadratowski hit by pitch. With two on,Jamie Potts laced a single through the right side of the infield, scoring Banks and putting runners on the corners with a 2-0 lead. Kevin Zak followed by laying down a bunt on a 1-1 count just between first base and the pitcher's mound, scoring Nadratowski and reaching first himself, giving the Lakers a 3-0 lead, still with only one out.
After Brugnoni walked for the third time in as many plate appearances to load the bases,
Jesse Abel made the Storm pay with a single through the left side of the infield after a pitching change, giving GVSU a 4-0 lead.
Aaron Overbeck continued the rally by lifting a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Zak, making it a 5-0 advantage.
GVSU put two runners on with nobody out in the bottom of the sixth, but it appeared that Lake Erie would get out of the jam, getting the next two batters out on with a fly ball and a foul out, but the next batter was bailed out when a throw from third to first bounced off the first baseman's glove, allowing Potts to score and Zak to move to third, putting runners on the corners. Eisler kept the two-out rally going, doubling just inside the bag at third base to score Zak, making it a 7-0 game.
The lead moved to 8-0 when Hess led off the bottom of the seventh inning with his second home run in his last four games, driving a ball over the wall down the left field line on a 2-2 pitch.
Lake Erie got on the scoreboard with a single tally in the top of the eighth, ending a great start by Aaron Jensen, as Dan Saier came in to get the final out of the inning. GVSU got that run back in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI single from Hess that scored Abel, who had walked to lead off the inning.
The Storm rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth, but the Lakers were able to nail down the victory to move on in the double elimination tournament.
Jensen (7-3) earned the win on the mound, going 7.2 innings, allowing only five hits and one run with five strikeouts.
The offense was led by Potts, one of two Lakers with multiple hits in the game, as he went 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. The other was Hess, who finished 2-for-4 with a run, two RBI and a home run. Zak was 1-for-4 with two runs, an RBI and a walk, while Brugnoni drew three of the eight walks issued to the Lakers on the day. Five Lakers had one hit and one RBI each in the contest.
