AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Grand Valley State baseball team defeated California (Pa.) and Lewis Monday (March 6) at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex. The Lakers improve to 2-3 on the season and will be back in action tomorrow for two nine inning games beginning at 10:00 AM at Lake Myrtle Sports Complex.
Game One vs California (Pa.) – W, 8-3
The Lakers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Freshman
Ayden VanEnkevort drew a bases loaded walk to score junior
Kyle Nott. Next batter,
Conner McCormack singled through the left side to score
Brendan Guciardo and
Jake Rydquist. California (Pa.) answered with two runs in the top of the second off an RBI groundout and sacrifice flyout.
In the third inning,
Connor Schuman singled to right center to bring home Guciardo for a 4-2 Laker lead. GVSU would add to the lead with a three-run seventh inning. Rydquist singled home Nott on a bunt towards the right side of the infield. VanEnkevort scored
Nathan Logan on a sacrifice flyout and Schuman singled up the middle to score Rydquist. Logan made it an 8-2 lead for GVSU in the eighth inning off an RBI double to score Nott. California (Pa.) tacked on one run in the ninth inning, but the Lakers would hang on for the 8-3 win.
Junior
Nick Rutkowski got the start on the mound for the Lakers and earned the win tossing six innings allowing just two runs off five hits, while three batters. Freshman
Owen Avery pitched one scoreless inning of relief and junior
Logan Wynalda pitched two innings of relief allowing just one run.
Offensively, Logan, Guciardo, McCormack, and Schuman each had two hits. VanEnkevort, McCormack, and Schuman each drove in two runs, while McCormack and Schuman both scored twice. Guciardo and Rydquist both scored twice in the win.
Kyle Nott led the Lakers with three runs scored.
Game Two vs Lewis – W, 8-6
In game two, the Lakers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning off an RBI sacrifice flyout to score
Spencer Nelson. GVSU extended the lead to 5-0 with a four-run fourth inning. After a pair of walks and a hit by pitch to load the bases,
Connor Schuman cleared the bases with a 3-RBI double to right field.
Kyle Nott added the fourth run later in the inning on a sacrifice flyout to score Schuman.
Lewis answered in the fifth inning with two runs off two RBI singles. The Lakers responded in the sixth inning two tuns to make it 7-2. Logan hit an RBI sacrifice flyout to score Schuman. Two batters later,
Ayden VanEnkevort drew a walk with the bases loaded to score Nelson. Lewis cut the Laker lead to one in the seventh inning with a grand slam to center field.
Kyle Nott answered in the bottom half of the seventh with an RBI single through the left side.
Sam Leck struck out the side in the ninth for his first save of the season to secure the Laker win.
Colby Phipps got the start on the mound in game two and earned the win (1-0) after tossing five innings allowing just one earned run off five hits, while striking out three. Freshman
Will Goebel threw 1.1 inninngs pitched in relief, while
Jake Rydquist tossed 1.2 innings of relief.
Connor Schuman led the Lakers at the plate going 2-2 with three RBI's and two runs scored.
Spencer Nelson hit 2-4 with two runs scored and a walk, while
Kyle Nott batted 1-2 with two runs batted in.
The Lakers will return to Lake Myrtle Sports Complex in Auburndale, FL for two more nine inning games beginning at 10:00 AM against Davis & Elkins and 1:30 against Minnesota Duluth. Follow @gvsubaseball on Twitter for live in-game updates and visit gvsulakers.com for links to live stats.
