ORLANDO, Fla.—Fifteen hits, seven of which went for extra bases, lifted the GVSU Baseball team to a lopsided victory over Notre Dame College (Oh.) on Thursday, 15-3. The Lakers improve to 7-2 on the season after hanging a season-high 15 runs on the hapless Falcons, victims of an explosive outburst of power from the Lakers.
 
A share of the damage came via three home runs courtesy of catcher Connor Glick and designated hitter Brody Andrews. Andrews, a catcher by trade, went yard twice in the game—both two-run shots—to drive in a career high four runs. Shortstop Johnny Nate torched the Falcons on both sides of the ball, playing excellent defense at shortstop while notching career highs in hits (4) and runs batted in (5).
 
On the mound, pitcher Tate Brawley (2-0) was excellent in his first start as a Laker, hurling six strong innings in which he scattered five hits and allowed one run while walking one and striking out two. Brawley registered 13 groundouts on the day and faced 26 batters.
 
Grand Valley State got to Notre Dame starter Hunter Kozak (0-1) early, as Seth Johnson drew a walk to open the second inning and scored from first on an RBI double to left center field from Austin LaDoux for a quick 1-0 lead. After Nick Schultz reached on a fielder's choice that saw LaDoux put out and later stole second, Nate singled to left field to drive in Schultz, and GVSU had a quick 2-0 lead.
 
In the third inning, Alex Young led off with a single to right center, promptly stole second and advanced to third base on the errant throw from the catcher. Andrews then blasted his first two-run shot to left field to double the Laker lead, scoring Young. The next batter was Glick, who smacked a no-doubt solo shot over the left field fence to push the lead to 5-0. It was the first time two Lakers had hit back-to-back home runs in a game since April 31^st, 2014, when Kevin Zak and Giancarlo Brugnoni did it in a game against Tiffin.
 
The Lakers were far from done, however, and would add a sixth run in the bottom of the fourth, when Keith Browning triple to right field and was driven in by a Nate single. After a scoreless fifth inning for both teams, the Falcons would finally get to Brawley in the top of the sixth, albeit for a lone run. After the Falcons plated a second run in the top of the seventh inning, the Lakers struck back with two more in the bottom of the frame off Andrews' second round-tripper of the night, which scored Young once again.
 
In the bottom of the eighth inning, things got ugly for the Falcons, as the Lakers tacked on seven runs to turn an 8-2 affair into a 15-2 rout. Johnson again began the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a LaDoux single and advanced to third when Nick Schultz was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Nate then cleared the bases with a deep double to left center, driving the score to 11-2. Nate moved to third on a passed ball and was plated by a single from Young, who then moved to second after a base on balls from Connor Grice. Pinch hitter Ryan Blake-Jones then came up for just his second at-bat of the young season, and hammered a pitched to the wall in left center for a two-run double, his first career hit as a Laker. With the lead now at 14-2, Johnson singled through the right side to score Blake-Jones and bring the score to 15-2, which the Falcons would tack one more run onto for the final tally of 15-3.
 
Johnson finished with two hits, two walks, two runs scored and a run driven in, while LaDoux collected a pair of hits, drove in a run and score another. Evan Koning pitched three innings in relief of Brawley, striking out three and allowing two runs on three hits.
 
The Lakers return to action with a 3:30 p.m. game against Lewis on Friday. The Flyers are 0-10 on the season.