ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Grand Valley State baseball team completed the sweep of Ashland on Sunday afternoon by a score of 3-1 in another dominant performance by the GVSU pitching staff. The Lakers conclude their regular season at 17-13 overall and 13-7 in GLIAC play. Every other GLIAC school (excluding Purdue Northwest) will be playing next weekend, but GVSU got the short end of the stick, missing a pair of four-game series with Wayne State and Saginaw Valley State. A search is on to find an opponent before the GLIAC Tournament begins May 20.
Michael Barno, in his first career start, was outstanding for the Lakers. The junior tossed five innings of one run ball and struck out seven Ashland batters before giving way to
Ben Thomas who was credited with the win, throwing 3 2/2 innings of scoreless relief with four strikeouts.
Jared Skubic entered for the final out of the ballgame and notched his third save of the weekend. The GVSU pitching staff allowed just seven runs on the weekend against an Ashland team that scored 75 runs in their sweep of Parkside last weekend.
A pitcher's duel for much of the game, neither team scored through the first three innings of play. Ashland got on the board in the fourth on a run-scoring single and carried a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning. In the bottom half of the sixth,
Parker Murdie singled, Faust sacrificed him over, then
Ryan Blake-Jones was intentionally walked. Catcher
Joe Laudont stepped to the plate and knocked a two-run double to the right center gap, giving the Lakers their first lead of the day at 2-1. GVSU added an insurance run in the seventh as
Anthony Cocco singled to leadoff the inning and
Carter Smith knocked him in with a double to centerfield. The Eagles threatened in the ninth inning, getting runners on first and third, but Skubic came in to close the door, inducing a groundout to end the contest.
Murdie led the Lakers with three hits, while Laudont finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Stay tuned to gvsulakers.com and @GVSUBaseball on Twitter for any schedule updates.
