ALLENDALE – The Grand Valley State baseball team defeated Hillsdale 9-4 Wednesday (April 19) afternoon at the GVSU Baseball Field. The Lakers improve to 23-11 on the season, while Hillsdale falls to 17-19.
 
Hillsdale jumped on the board early in the top of the first inning. The Chargers loaded the bases and hit a sacrifice fly to center field to take the early 1-0 lead. GVSU tied the game at one in the third inning on a sacrifice fly hit by Nathan Logan to score Spencer Nelson. 
 
Hillsdale regained the lead in the fourth inning off an RBI double and RBI groundout. The Lakers responded with a five-run inning to take a 6-3 lead. Connor Schuman led off the inning with a single through the left side and advanced to second on a Brendan Guciardo single. After Ayden VanEnkevort walked to load the bases, Nelson singled through the left side to score Schuman. Next batter, Kyle Nott gave the Lakers their first lead of the game with a two-RBI double to right center bringing home Guciardo and VanEnkevort. Logan singled to left field to score Nelson and Nott.
 
The Lakers added two runs in the fifth inning to increase the lead to 8-3. Justin Mansager walked and advanced to second on a Guciardo single up the middle. After a sacrifice bunt to put runners at second and third, Mansager scored on a wild pitch. Spencer Nelson scored Guciardo off an RBI single. GVSU made it 9-3 in the sixth when Logan doubled and scored on a wild pitch.
 
Hillsdale added a run in the seventh to make it 9-4 but the Lakers would hang on for the win. Allan Thorington got the start and tossed two innings allowing one run (zero earned) off two hits. Rylan Peets tossed a scoreless inning of relief. Josh Schell earned his first collegiate win (1-0 after tossing an inning of relief. Will Goebel tossed two scoreless innings, while Logan Wynalda and Sam Leck each tossed a scoreless inning. 
 
The Laker offense tallied 14 hits in the win including five players with multiple hits. Nathan Logan batted 3-4 at the plate with a double, three RBI's and a run scored. Spencer Nelson hit 3-4 with two RBI's and two runs scored. Kyle Nott went 2-4 on the afternoon with a double, two RBI's and a run scored. Brendan Guciardo hit 2-4 with two runs scored and Connor Schuman batted 2-4 with a run scored. 
 
The Lakers will travel to Hammond, Indiana to face Purdue Northwest to resume GLIAC play this upcoming weekend. Game one of the four game series will begin on Friday (April 21) with first pitch coming at 4:00 PM ET. Follow @gvsubaseball on Twitter for live in-game updates and visit gvsulakers.com for links to live stats and video.