ORLANDO, Fla.—Another day, another split for the Grand Valley State baseball team, as the team reached two lopsided results in Wednesday's action at the RussMatt Invitational in Orlando, Florida. The Lakers topped Minnesota-Duluth 12-1 in the first game of a doubleheader before dropping a 10-3 decision in the second contest.
The split moves GVSU to 6-2 on the season and 2-2 in RussMatt play. The Lakers won the opening game of the doubleheader thanks to an offensive outpouring in support of a sterling effort on the mound by starter Mitch Ashcraft.
GVSU got off to a quick start in the first game against the Bulldogs, scoring three runs in the top of the first frame. Alex Young led off the game with a bunt single and promptly scored on a double to right center hit by Seth Johnson for a quick 1-0 lead. After Connor Glick singled to shortstop, the throw over to first to try and catch him sailed high, allowing an alert Johnson to turn towards home and score GVSU's second run, and with two outs in the inning a Matt Williams double down the right field line drove in Glick to make it 3-0 GVSU.
After a scoreless bottom of the inning for the Bulldogs, GVSU went to work again in the top of the second inning, as back to back singles by Keith Browning and Johnny Nate got the Lakers started. After a failed pickoff throw to first to try and catch Nate got away from the first basemen, Nate was able to advance to second and Browning came in to score from third base. After Alex Young walked on a wild pitch and Nate advanced to third, Johnson came through again, this time with a groundout to first base that allowed Nate to trot home for a 5-0 lead.
After a scoreless third inning by both teams, the Lakers extended their lead to 6-0, when Young tripled to lead off the frame and was promptly singled in by Johnson. The Lakers were threatening to score more in the frame but were thwarted by an unlucky double-play ball.
In the sixth inning, the Lakers added to their lead with one out in the inning, as Young doubled down the left field line and advanced to third on a Johnson single. Connor Glick then doubled to left field to score both runners and push the lead to 8-0. After pinch hitter Austin LaDouz singled to left, Glick advanced to third and scored on a single by Williams shortly thereafter.
GVSU would score against in the seventh inning, as Seth Johnson singled to right center to score Nate, who had gotten on with a one-out single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Johnson and Young (who had walked) then advanced to second and third, respectively, on yet another wild pitch. With two outs, LaDoux then delivered a single to left center to drive in both Young and Johnson, bringing the score to 12-1.
Minnesota-Duluth would finally scratch across a run in the seventh off Ashcraft (1-0), the only blemish on an excellent start by the junior. He pitched the complete game near shutout while allowing seven hits, walking none and striking out six.
Johnson had a monster game at the plate, going 4-5 with four runs driven in and three runs scored. Young tallied three hits, two walks and four runs scored from the leadoff position, while Glick, LaDoux and Williams each had a pair of hits and drove in two runs. Glick and Nate each scored a pair of Laker runs.
In the matinee contest, the Lakers got to Bulldog starter Marcus Frederickson in the third inning, scoring three runs off of a bases clearing double to the left center field wall by Anthony Villar, only to see the 3-1 lead slip away in a calamitous fourth quarter. After the Bulldogs knocked in one run off a pair of base hits, two errors in quick succession by the Lakers turned two would-be outs into baserunners, and GVSU could not buy an out after that, as the Bulldogs began blasting base hits all over the field. By the time the bloodbath was over, nine runs (eight unearned) had crossed the plate, tying an earlier season high for runs in a single inning, and GVSU's deficit had increased to 10-3.
That would stand as the final score, as neither team scored in the final three frames of play. Overall, the Lakers managed just five hits against Frederickson, who fanned 10 Lakers in five innings.
GVSU will continue RussMatt play with a 4:00 PM game against Notre Dame College on Thursday, the first solo game of the tournament for the Lakers.
