GLIAC Tournament Central

The Grand Valley State baseball team is set to open 2018 GLIAC Tournament action versus Davenport. The Lakers (27-21) enter play as the fifth-seed, while Davenport (30-17) is seeded second. First pitch is set for 2:30 p.m. Thursday (May 10) at The Detroit PAL Corner Park in Detroit, Mich. GVSU split the regular season series at Davenport, dropping the first two games before regrouping to take the final two in the series. 

The Lakers have a long and storied tradition in the GLIAC Tournament, boasting a 43-11 all-time tournament record with 10 tourney titles. GVSU has won 10-of-14 tournament crowns in which play was completed. The 2003 and 2006 tournaments were called due to weather. In addition, GVSU won a tournament record 16 consecutive games and five titles between 2003 and 2010. Current GVSU head coach Jamie Detillion is 17-5 in GLIAC tourney play with three titles. 

Grand Valley State is led offensivley by the trio of 1B Ryan Blake-Jones, C/3B Austin LaDoux and RF Jacob Gleason. Blake-Jones leads the GLIAC in batting average (.426), collecting 72 hits, 50 RBIs and scoring 44 runs.  LaDoux is hitting .404 with 67 hits, 42 runs scored, 36 RBI and a team-high 15 doubles, while Gleason enters with a .374 batting average, a team-high 10 home runs and 49 RBI. Junior LF Zach Berry is hitting .304 with seven home runs and 40 RBI, followed by 2B Josh C. Smith who is also hitting .304 with five home runs and 31 RBI. Freshman CF Nolan Anspaugh is hitting .320 with 48 hits, six doubles and is 9-for-9 in stolen bases. 

The pitching staff is led by senior starters Ryan Arnold and Tate Brawley. Arnold is 6-2 with a 4.89 ERA in 70 inning pitched with 53 strikeouts, while Brawley is 6-1 with a 4.76 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 68 innings of work. Senior closer Kyle Lawson has a 1.17 ERA with 10 saves.