Grand Valley State put the finishing touches on a GLIAC, 4-game series road sweep with an 8-2 victory over Purdue Northwest Sunday (Mar. 28). The Lakers are now 7-6 overall and 4-0 in league action. GVSU will host Lawrence Tech Tuesday (Mar. 30) and then hit the road for a GLIAC, 4-game series at Northwood Thursday (April 1) - Saturday (April 3).
Purdue Northwest scored single runs in the bottom of the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead, however, the struck for two runs in the top of the fourth. 2B
Cade Stanton opened the inning with a single, followed by an RBI double off the bat of 1B
Ryan Blake-Jones. DH
Joe Laudont single to right to score Blake-Jones and tie the score. GVSU took the lead for good (3-2) with a run in the top of the fourth. CF
Carter Smith singled and advanced to second on a single from 3B
Christian Faust. GVSU loaded the bases on a sac bunt and Blake-Jones drove in Smith with a fielder's choice.
Grand Valley State added another run (4-2) in the top of the fifth when C
Ryan Lorber doubled with one out. Lorber advanced to third on an infield single from RF Nate Logan and scored on a bunt from SS
Parker Murdie. LF
Anthony Cocco doubled with two outs in the seventh and scored on a Laudont single to right to give GVSU a 5-2 lead. The Lakers added two more runs (7-2) in the eighth when C. Smith singled with two outs, advanced to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on an error by the catcher. Faust walked, stole second and scored on a single to right by Stanton. GVSU closed out the scoring in the top of the ninth when Cocco singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a fly out by PH John Catapano. Lorber grounded out to SS to score Cocco for the final margin of 8-2.
LHP
Nick Shaw, who started and tossed the first 2.1 innings, was relieved by
Ben Thomas who picked up the win (2-1). Thomas struck out four and yielded one hit in 4.2 innings of work.
Michael Barno did not give up a hit in the final two innings.
Carter Smith was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and Cade Smith was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Blake-Jones drove in a pair on his double, Cocco was 2-for-5 with two runs scored and Laudont was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Murdie was 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Lorber doubled and drove in a run and Logan singled. GVSU scored eight runs on 15 hits and stole five bases.