Baseball Drops Pair To Grand Valley State

OVERVIEW – GRAND VALLEY STATE

SCORES: Grand Valley State Lakers 7, Northwood Timberwolves 3/Grand Valley State 4, Northwood 3

RECORDS: Northwood 26-11, 13-5 GLIAC/Grand Valley 23-15, 11-7 GLIAC

LOCATION: Gerace Stadium – Midland, Mich.

RECAP: Northwood dropped a pair of games to Grand Valley State Saturday (April 21), falling 7-3 before falling short 4-3 in the nightcap.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• Grand Valley batted around in the first inning. After starting off small with lead-off single and sacrifice bunt to move the runner to second, a two-run homer followed to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead.
• After loading the bases later in the opening frame, a wild pitch scored one run and a sacrifice fly plated another as the visitors extended their lead to four halfway through the first.
• Northwood was able to answer in the bottom of the third. After loading the bases without posting a hit (two errors and a walk), David Vinsky brought two runners home with a single up the middle to cut the lead in half.
• Later in the third, Javier Martinez joined the rally with a single of his own and drove in Ryan McClelland to trim the Lakers' lead down to 4-3 going into the fourth.
• Grand Valley was able to answer in the fifth. After the first two batters reached on a Northwood error and single, a sacrifice bunt moved both of them up to second and third base with one out. A sharp single to left field brought both runners home to bring the lead back to three at 6-3 heading into the bottom of the inning.
• The visitors tacked onto their lead in the sixth. After a lead-off double that reached the left-field fence, another Laker sacrifice bunt brought the runner to third with one out. A bloop single to center brought in the seventh run of the contest for the Lakers and restored their four-run lead.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors – Northwood: 3/6/2, Grand Valley: 7/8/2
• Runners Left on Base – Northwood: 7, Grand Valley: 7
• Winning Pitcher – Ryan Arnold (6-1): 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R (0 ER), 5 K, 3 BB
• Losing Pitcher – Tyler Jandron (7-2): 5 IP, 6 H, 6 R (5 ER), 5 K, 4 BB

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• D. Vinsky: 2-3, 2 RBI, BB
• J. Martinez: 1-4, RBI
• Brian Dombrowski: 1-2 

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• GVSU was able to draw first blood again in the opening inning. After back-to-back base hits with two outs put runners at first and third, a single to right-center field brought the first run of the game home and put the Lakers up 1-0.
• Northwood answered quickly in the bottom of the first. After Dombrowski reached on an infield single, Martinez walked, and Nick Palmer reached on an error to load the bases with two outs, Travis Janes drew a walk and tied the game 1-1 headed into the second.
• The Lakers went back on top in the third inning. After two singles and an error put runners at second and third with two outs, a line-drive double off the right field wall plated them both and put the visitors up 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third.
• The Timberwolves were able to answer in the bottom of the fifth. Martinez singled, Colin McClelland walked, and Palmer singled to load the bases with no outs. Janes earned an RBI after a hit-by-pitch to cut the lead to 3-2.
• With the bases still loaded, Keaton Sackett came through with a sacrifice fly to center to tie the contest at 3-3 heading into the sixth.
• Grand Valley regained the lead in the eighth. After a lead-off walk and an error on a pick-off throw that moved the runner to third, a squeeze bunt plated the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run.
• Northwood had runners on base in each of the final two innings but were unable to plate the tying run.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors – Northwood: 3/6/3, Grand Valley: 4/6/2
• Runners Left on Base – Northwood: 12, Grand Valley: 8
• Winning Pitcher – Alex Licata (2-1): 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R (0 ER), 0 K, 0 BB
• Losing Pitcher – Lennon Gwizdala (3-1): 2.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R (0 ER), 5 K, 2 BB
• Save – Kyle Lawson (8): 2 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 5 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• T. Janes: 1-3, 2 RBI, BB
• C. McClelland: 1-2, 3 BB
• R. McClelland: 1-3, BB

UP NEXT

• Northwood will host Grand Valley on Sunday (April 22) for another doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.