LANSING, Mich. – The Grand Valley State baseball team opened up the GLIAC Tournament with a 6-4 win over Wayne State at Jackson Field in Lansing, Michigan. The Lakers, winners of nine straight games, will now take on the winner of Ashland/Northwood tomorrow night at 6:00 PM.
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Wayne State opened the scoring in the first inning after a two-out error led to back-to-back singles. GVSU's bats went down in order through the first two innings of play, but in the bottom of the third,
Kyle Nott started the inning with a bunt and advanced to second on throwing error.
Anthony Cocco then singled down and went to second on a wild pitch.
Carter Smith delivered a two-run single to score Nott and Cocco to give the Lakers a 2-1 lead through three innings of play.
The Warriors answered right back in the top of the fourth with a two-run home run to give Wayne State the lead, 3-2. GVSU loaded the bases in the bottom half and Nott legged out a ground ball to avoid the inning ending double play, which scored a run and allowed Cocco to drive in Laudont during the next at-bat. GVSU took a 4-3 lead and never looked back. Starting pitcher
Nick Rutkowski worked his way out of a leadoff double in the fifth inning and a pair of one-out singles in the sixth inning to keep the Warriors off the board.
Ryan Blake-Jones led off the bottom of the sixth with a double up against the wall in right center and scored on a Laudont RBI single up the middle. The Lakers plated another insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on a
Parker Murdie sac fly to score
Jake Rydquist and up the GVSU lead to 6-3.
Wayne State would score a run in the eighth inning, but
Sam Leck entered out the of the bullpen and retired five out of the next six batters he faced including three strikeouts.
Rutkowski (4-3) earned the win by tossing 7 1/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned), no walks, and three strikeouts. The freshman has not walked a batter in his last three outings, spanning 21 1/3 innings. Leck was credited with his second save of the season, replacing Rutkowski with one out in the eighth inning and allowed just one base runner in his 1 2/3 innings of work.
Blake-Jones led the Lakers with three hits and two runs, while Cocco recorded two hits. Smith had a team-high two RBI.
