EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The 22nd-ranked Grand Valley State baseball team will begin the 2014 NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament on Thursday (May 15) with a game against Lake Erie, the third straight against the Storm. The Lakers will be looking to defend their 2013 regional title, won in Springfield, Mo. last season.Based on nearly every poll, it will be an extremely competitive tournament, as the Lakers' No. 22 College Baseball Newspaper ranking is just behind Drury (No. 18) and host Southern Indiana (No. 19) in the national polls.
The Lakers, who are making their 13th straight NCAA Division II baseball regional appearance, is one of only two schools to qualify for the last 13 seasons (Tampa). GVSU is 43-31 all-time in NCAA postseason play, including a 34-20 mark in regional action, and is 33-16 since 2002 with six regional titles. The Lakers' 43 all-time NCAA victories ranks 10th among active Division II schools.
Against the other regional participants, the Lakers are 3-0 all-time against Drury, 9-5 against Indianapolis, 13-6 against Lake Erie, 6-8-1 against Southern Indiana and 95-55 against Wayne State.
GVSU earned the No. 2 seed in this year's tournament and will be taking on No. 5 Lake Erie for a scheduled noon first pitch on Thursday at the USI Baseball Field. Weather may push the start time back, in which case the new start time will be reflected on the schedule page and be announced on social media.
Drury (No. 3) will take on Wayne State (No. 4) in the second game of the day, scheduled for 4 p.m., while top seed and host Southern Indiana (No. 1) will take on Indianapolis (No. 6) at 8 p.m.
USI enters the tournament 41-11 overall, while GVSU is 37-11, Drury is 41-11, Wayne State is 35-15, Lake Erie is 31-20 and Indianapolis is 30-23.The Lakers defeated the Storm twice at last weekend's GLIAC baseball tournament, beating Lake Erie 6-2 in the tournament semifinals before taking a 10-2 victory in the championship game. GVSU is 2-3 this season against Lake Erie, as the Storm swept a three-game set in Painesville, Ohio on April 18th and 19th.
GVSU is back in Evansville for the second time this season after defeating the Screaming Eagles twice back on February 22nd (2-1) and 23rd (12-6) to begin the season. USI took the first game of the series on February 21st by a 2-1 score, but the Lakers rebounded to take the series in the next two days.
The Lakers played in their last regional tournament in Evansville in 2010, when GVSU was also the No. 2 seed in the tournament, with an eerily similar seeding list to this season. In 2010, USI was the No. 1 seed, while Northern Kentucky was No. 3 (now Division I), Wayne State was No. 4, Ashland was No. 5 (Lake Erie's seed this season) and Indianapolis was No. 6.
In that tournament, GVSU won its first three games, beating Ashland (6-3), Northern Kentucky (7-1) and Southern Indiana (6-3) in the first three days. However, USI came back to win both games against the Lakers on the final day (7-3 and 11-4) to advance to the World Series, as they used that momentum to win the national title.
Jamie Potts is hitting .481 (13-for-27) in his career in regional tournament action, with seven runs, three doubles, one home run, 11 RBI and is 3-for-3 on stolen bases in the last two years. Kevin Zak is hitting .378 (14-for-37) with 11 runs, two doubles, five RBI and is 2-for-2 on stolen bases, while Mike Nadratowski is hitting .371 (13-for-35) with nine runs, one triple and is 5-for-5 on stolen bases. Giancarlo Brugnoni is a career .326 (16-for-49) batter in regional action with 11 runs, four doubles, one home run and eight RBI over the last three seasons.
Please visit the tournament information page above for more information on the tournament as well as live stats links for throughout the tournament.
