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BAY CITY, Mich. --Ashland University junior first baseman Ben Minard (Delaware, Ohio/ Olentangy) and Wayne State University senior pitcher Dane Little (Windsor, Ontario/F.J. Brennan) were named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) "Player and Pitcher of the Week," respectively, by the league office.

GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week:
Ben Minard
Ashland University
Junior/First baseman/R-R
Delaware, Ohio/Olentangy

Junior Ben Minard had a strong week at the plate, almost single handedly winning two games for the Eagles. In a double header against Northwood, the first baseman hit a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the ball game. In the second game, with the game tied 5-5, he hit another three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to give the Eagles the lead. AU went on to win the game 8-5. For the week he finished with a .368 average, two home runs, 10 RBI and four runs scored.

Weekly Honor Roll:  Kyle Wilson - UF, Cory Maguire - GV, John Bonvillian - HC, Derek Fritz - NU, Ty Blake - TU, Charlie Dunneback - WS.

2009 GLIAC Baseball "Players of the Week": March 19 - Jeff Foltz - Ashland University; March 23 - Cody Grice - Grand Valley State University; March 30 - Matthew Williams - Wayne State University; April 6 - Kyle Gendron - Grand Valley State University; April 13 - Ben Minard - Ashland University.

GLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week:
Dane Little
Wayne State University
Senior/LHP
Windsor, Ontario/F.J. Brennan

Warrior senior lefty Dane Little tossed a three-hit shutout as WSU won, 2-0, at SVSU in the second game of a twinbill Friday. He threw 102 pitches, walked one and struck out a season-high five to earn his second career shutout and improve to 3-0 on the season. Little, who made just his second start of the year after suffering an injury in the first week, did not allow a runner past second base all afternoon as Wayne State marked its first shutout since April 2008. He now has a 3.86 ERA and 14 strikeouts this season.

Weekly Honor Roll:  Kevin Dunn - AU, Ryan Rothenbuler - UF, Andre Benjamin - GV, Scott Monterastelli - HC, Eric Kinley - NU.

2009 GLIAC Baseball "Pitchers of the Week":  March 19 - Danny Richard - Grand Valley State University; March 23 - Andre Benjamin - Grand Valley State University;
March 30 - Scott Monterastelli - Hillsdale College; April 6 - Donnie Smith - Tiffin University; April 13 - Dane Little - Wayne State University.

-----GLIAC Baseball Weekly Notes-----

Ashland - The 13th-ranked Eagles had a perfect week going 5-0. The wins improved the Eagles to 30-8 overall and 15-2 in the GLIAC. AU has won 10 games in a row. Ashland swept a two-game set from Northwood last Wednesday (Apr. 8), 9-6 and 8-5. Then over the weekend, Ashland won a three-game series against Tiffin, 12-10, 7-6 and 9-5. Junior Ben Minard hit the ball well again this week. In the two games against Northwood, he connected on two three-run home runs. The first home run was in dramatic fashion as it was a walk-off game winner in the bottom of the seventh inning. He finished that day with a .500 average, two homeruns, two runs scored and eight RBI. In the weekend series, Tyson Rowland hit .500 with four RBI, four runs scored and four stolen bases. He now has 78 stolen bases in his career, which is good enough for second all-time in AU history. He is just four behind Jim Ray’s (1971-74) 82 career stolen bases. The Eagles play eight games next week; two at Hillsdale on Monday (Apr. 13), two at Findlay on Wednesday (Apr. 15) and four in a weekend set at Grand Valley.

Findlay - The Oilers went 4-1 last week with two wins over Tiffin and two more against Hillsdale…Kyle Wilson had a game-winning hit against Hillsdale on Saturday…Ryan Rothenbuhler picked up a win and a save for Findlay during the week…Brian Sampsel has 35 RBI’s on the season and is chasing the record of 46 set by Chad Geuy in 2007…Sampsel also has 54 career doubles and is chasing the GLIAC record of 60 set by Joel Dohm of Saginaw Valley State… Rothenbuhler led the Oilers on the week by picking up a win and a save…He picked up his first career save in the Oilers 4-3 win at Tiffin by allowing no runs on one hit in one inning of work…The Cygnet, Ohio native then pitched a complete game in Findlay’s 2-1 win over Hillsdale, allowing one run on three hits. Rothenbuler currently ranks fifth in the GLIAC in earned run average at 3.30.

Grand Valley State - GVSU went 3-1 with one exhibition and one suspended game over the week...The Lakers topped SVSU 7-6 in game one and game two was suspended 4-4 in the top of the 11th...GVSU took two-of-three games against Northwood, including 1-0 and 4-3 wins....Seniors Andre Benjamin (Grand Ledge, Mich./GRCC) and Ben Knuth (St. Joseph’s, Mich./Pitt), as well as sophomore Danny Richard (West Bloomfield, Mich.) all threw complete games over the week...Senior Casey Robrahn (Jenison, Mich.) led the team with a .438 batting average oer the week and also drove in five runs...Freshman Steve Anderson (Northville, Mich.) drove in a team-high six runs with a .385 batting average...Junior Cory Maguire (Davison, Mich.) scored a team-high five runs and hit .400 with a home run...The Lakers are ranked No. 1 in the NCBWA poll and No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball poll...Through April 5, GVSU ranks second in Division II in WL Percentage (.875), third in hits allowed per nine innings (7.28) and earned-run average (2.6), and seventh in batting average (.358)...Robrahn ranks as the third-toughest player to strike out in Division II (40.7)...Knuth and Richard rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in earned-run average in Division II.

Hillsdale - The Hillsdale College baseball team snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 6-1 win over the University of Findlay on the road Friday…The Chargers’ scheduled doubleheader at home vs. Wayne State on Wednesday was postponed because of poor field conditions after a snowstorm last week…A rescheduled date has not been announced…In the month of April, freshman John Bonvillian has been moved to the leadoff spot in the lineup, and has 14 hits in eight games during the month…He was 4-for-5 in Saturday’s second game against Findlay…Senior Scott Monterastelli pitched the team to its second GLIAC win Friday in a 6-1 win over the Oilers…Monterastelli has both GLIAC wins for the Chargers this season…Hillsdale is 0-5 in one-run games in GLIAC play…The team is scheduled to play eight games in six days this week, starting with a Monday doubleheader against No. 12 Ashland…After Monday’s games, Hillsdale will have played 10 of its 18 GLIAC games against Ashland and Grand Valley State, two nationally ranked teams.

Northwood - Northwood hit the road last week, facing the top two teams in the league on the road for five games ... the Timberwolves went 1-4 overall for the week, dropping four close games to Ashland and Grand Valley State ... NU did earn a 6-5 victory over No. 1 GVSU, the first win for the Timberwolves over a top-ranked team in school history ... NU also snapped a 14-game losing streak to the Lakers with the win - a streak that dated back to April 20, 2005 ... Derek Fritz (Standish, Mich./Standish-Sterling) led the offensive attack for the week, batting .421 with a home run and five RBI’s ... Jordan Snider (Bay City, Mich./John Glenn) earned the Timberwolves win for the week, allowing three earned runs in seven innings of work ... Eric Kinley (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage) was a hard-luck loser for Northwood against GVSU, tossing a complete game two-hitter in a 1-0 loss... The Timberwolves will play eight of their next 10 GLIAC games at home, inlcuding eight straight after playing at rival Sagina Valley State University on Wednesday.

Saginaw Valley State - This week, the Saginaw Valley Cardinals went 2-3, with one game against Grand Valley that was called due to darkness in the 10th inning due to darkness. The game was tied 2-2, and will be finished on April 26 in Allendale, Mich. Against Alma, the Cardinals got a hard-fought win, 16-15 on April 8. SVSU had 17 hits, with junior Josh Peterson going 3-for-5, and junior Chase Coulter hitting 2-for-3. Junior Scott Haase got the win going 4.0 innings, striking out nine, and allowing only five hits. The Cardinals went 1-3 in the next four games, but got a big win against Wayne State on Saturday in their single-nine, 4-2. In the win, junior Andy Ferraiuolo homered in the seventh to put the Cards up by four runs. Junior Colin Coulter went 8.0 innings, fanning two and allowing seven hits and two earned runs. The Cardinals will look to take the momentum from their win on Saturday into their games this week against Northwood on Wednesday, and Hillsdale College on Saturday and Sunday.

Tiffin - TU continued their solid hitting, batting .321 for the week despite losing all five games. The Dragons bullpen failed to hold leads throughout the week, as TU lost three extra inning contests and another back-and-forth game with Ashland 12-10…Val Helldobler battled through illness to hit .476 for the week, scoring a team high 6 runs…Pat Curtin hit .375 with a triple and home run…Adam Greening batted .357 over 4 games while overall Dragons catchers hit .352 for the week…Devin Rudolph also heated up at the plate, hitting .316 with 5 runs scored…Donnie Smith lost his lone start for the week, posting a 3.52 ERA over 7.2 innings of work…TU’s pitching staff notched a 8.60 ERA in a difficult week.

Wayne State - Wayne State had its doubleheader Wednesday at Hillsdale postponed due to inclement weather but took two out of three at Saginaw Valley State over the weekend … with a 10-8 conference record, the Warriors are in third place behind Ashland and Grand Valley State … WSU’s 8-5 victory in Friday’s series opener snapped a six-game skid … senior co-captain Dane Little (Windsor, Ont./F.J. Brennan Catholic) notched his second career shutout in Friday’s second game, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out a season-high five … senior Charlie Dunneback (Lansing, Mich.) hit his first home run of the season on Saturday, producing both WSU runs in a 4-2 loss … senior Matthew Williams (Detroit, Mich./Royal Oak Shrine), who led Wayne State with five hits in the series, ranks seventh in the GLIAC with a .376 batting average … sophomore catcher Michael Wiseman (White Lake, Mich./Lakeland) is not far behind with a .371 average which ranks ninth … Wayne State wraps up its road swing with a doubleheader Wednesday at GVSU before hosting Tiffin this weekend.