ORLANDO, Fla.—A lack of offense and critical errors doomed the Grand Valley State baseball team to a pair of losses to Seton Hill (Pa.) on Sunday in RussMatt Invitational play. GVSU led the first game 3-2 late but fell to a late Griffin rally, 6-3, and saw Seton Hill rally late yet again in the second game and walk off with a 3-2 victory. The losses drop GVSU to 8-4 on the season and 4-4 in RussMatt play.
A pitching duel in the first game between GVSU's
Jake Mason and Seton Hill's Josh Keefe saw both pitchers take shutouts into the fifth inning of play. Keefe was the first to slip up, as he allowed a leadoff solo shot to
Johnny Nate in the bottom of the inning, before surrendering a second run on an RBI single by
Matt Williams.
Unfortunately, the scoring by GVSU seemed to light a spark in the Griffins batting order, which had been completely shut down by Mason for five straight innings. Seton Hill tagged Mason for a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game, only to see the Lakers push across one of their own in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-2 lead. That run came via an RBI single by Nate, who scored
Anthony Villar from second base.
With the win still in line for Mason, the wheels came off in the seventh inning, as Seton Hill touched up closer
Matt Williams for four runs to take a 6-3 lead. With the lead now theirs, the Griffins shut the Lakers down in the bottom of the frame to take the first game of the twinbill.
Game two featured a matchup between GVSU's
Ryan Arnold and Seton Hill's Zach Martinelli, which remained scoreless for the first two innings before GVSU's
Alex Young launched a leadoff home run over the left field wall to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. After
Connor Glick reach on an error and later advanced to third on a
Seth Johnson single, Martinelli committed his second mistake in the form on a wild pitch to plate Glick for a 2-0 lead.
On the mound, Arnold struggled with his control, walking four batters in total, yet striking out five and keeping the Griffins off the scoreboard for 4.1 innings. Seton Hill then scored two runs to tie the game, aided by two Laker errors, to signal the end of the day for Arnold on the mound. Coming on in relief was
Troy Dykhuis, who pitched a scoreless sixth and was looking to set the Griffins down in the bottom of the seventh when disaster struck. With one out, Seton Hill's Garret Vrbanic reached on an error, then advanced to second on a single. A deep fly ball to center field then allowed Vrbanic to move to third base, and in a bizarre turn of events, Vrbanic stole home while the home plate umpire was dusting off the plate and action in the game was assumed to be paused. The controversial and sudden ending gave Seton Hill the 3-2 victory in the game, and the sweep in the doubleheader.
Grand Valley State was led on the day by Nate's 3-3 effort in the first game, with a home run and an RBI single, while game two's top performer was Young, with two hits, a run scored and a run driven in.
