ALLENDALE – The Grand Valley State baseball team walked it off in the ninth inning of game two to win 12-11 to split today's doubleheader against Saginaw Valley State. The Lakers are now 28-17 on the season and 15-14 I n the GLIAC.
GAME ONE – L, 5-1
In game one, Saginaw Valley State jumped out early with a solo home run in the first inning to right center. The Cardinals hit another solo home run in the second to make it 2-0 and one in the third to make it 3-0. Later in the third inning, the Cardinals notched two RBI singles to take a 5-0 lead.
The Lakers scored their only run of the fourth inning.
MacArthur Graybill reached base off an error and
Jake Rydquist smoked an RBI double to right center to score Graybill.
Kyle Nott led the Lakers going 3-4 at the plate.
Jake Rydquist went 1-2 with a double and RBI, while
Conner McCormack and
Jonas Gulbrandsen each added a hit.
Colby Phipps got the start on the mound and suffered the loss after tossing six innings allowing five runs off nine hits.
Brendan Pierce tossed a scoreless inning of relief.
GAME TWO – W, 12-11
In game two, Saginaw Valley State opened the game with a five-run first inning off four hits. The Lakers answered with six runs in the bottom half of the first to take a 6-5 lead.
Kyle Nott and
Jonas Gulbrandsen led off the inning with back-to-back walks. Next batter,
Logan Anderson singled up the middle to score Nott to put the Lakers on the board. After
Conner McCormack got hit by a pitch to load the bases,
Brendan Guciardo singled to score Gulbrandsen and
Justin Mansager walked to score Anderson making it 5-3. Next at bat,
Carter Rohman cleared the bases with a three-RBI triple to center field to give the Lakers their first lead of the day.
The Cardinals quickly tied the game in the second inning with an RBI double to left center. The Lakers regained the lead with a three-run third inning to take a 9-6 lead.
Connor Schuman led off with a single and advanced to third off a Gucairdo single. Schuman scored on a fielder's choice by just beating the tag off a throw by the pitcher to the plate. Later in the inning, Nott made it 8-6 off a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Guciardo. Gulbrandsen singles next at bat to score
Justin Mansager.
The Cardinals cut the Laker lead to one with two runs in the fourth. SVSU scored off a sacrifice fly to right field and an infield RBI single. They would tie the game at nine in the fifth off an RBI single to center field. GVSU regained the lead again in the sixth inning when
Brendan Guciardo launched a solo home run to left field for his third of the season. The Cardinals again answered and tied the game at ten in the seventh inning with an RBI single through the left side.
In the eighth inning,
Conner McCormack singled up the middle and advanced to second on a passed ball. With two outs,
Connor Schuman came up clutch with a single up the middle to score McCormack, putting the Lakers ahead 11-10. SVSU would not go away as they tied the game with two outs in the ninth on a single to right field to tie the game at eleven.
In the bottom of the ninth inning with nobody on base and two outs,
Kyle Nott notched a double to left field. Next batter,
Jonas Gulbrandsen lined a single to right field to score Nott to walk it off for the Laker win.
Brendan Gucairdo led the Laker offense with three hits including a home run, two runs batted in, and three runs scored.
Jonas Gulbrandsen batted 2-4 with two RBIs, a run scored, and two walks.
Logan Anderson went 2-3 with a run scored and RBI.
Carter Rohman added a triple and three RBIs, while
Kyle Nott notched a double, two runs scored, and RBI.
Nino Puckett tossed three innings of relief allowing three runs off six hits,
Logan Wynalda tossed 4.1 innings of relief allowing two runs off five hits with three strikeouts.
Sam Leck earned his first win of the season after tossing an inning of relief striking out two.
The Lakers and Cardinals will conclude the weekend series tomorrow (May 7) at 12:30 PM at the GVSU Baseball Field in the final game of the regular season. The Lakers will honor seven seniors before the game for senior day. Follow @gvsubaseball on Twitter for live in-game updates and visit gvsulakers.com for links to live stats and video.
