Click here for printer-friendly (pdf) version of release
BAY CITY, Mich. --Wayne State University junior outfielder Paul LaMantia (Tecumseh, Ont./St. Anne's) and Northwood University junior pitcher Matt Toporski (Essexville, Mich./Garber) 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":
Paul LaMantia - Wayne State
(Jr, OF, R/R, Tecumseh, Ont./St. Anne's)
Junior outfielder Paul LaMantia led Wayne State with a .529 batting average, nine hits and a .941 slugging percentage as the Warriors went 3-2 last week. He had a hit in each game as WSU split a twinbill at Grand Valley State on Wednesday. He went on to collect seven hits in Saturday's doubleheader against Tiffin, homering in both games - including a two-run shot in the first game which snapped a 6-6 tie in the sixth inning - and totaling five RBI and five runs scored. For the season, LaMantia ranks third in the GLIAC in slugging percentage (.612), eighth in runs scored (32) and 11th in batting average (.373).
Weekly Honor Roll: M. McAllester - AU, A. Raymond - UF, B. Hubbard - HC, K. Dore - SV, P. Curtin - TU.
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; April 20 - Paul LaMantia - Wayne State University.
GLIAC Baseball "Pitcher of the Week":
Matt Toporski - Northwood
(Jr, RHP, Essexville, Mich./Garber)
Junior starting pitcher Matt Toporski went 2-0 last week, posting a 0.64 ERA in leading the Northwood pitching staff. He tossed his first career shutout in a 3-0 victory over Saginaw Valley State Wednesday, allowing five hits while striking out three. Toporski then threw seven strong inning in the Timberwolves' win over Findlay. He allowed one earned run while striking out five. Matt is currently sixth in the conference in strikeouts with 46, tied for seventh in games started with eight, and ninth in the GLIAC in innings-pitched with 51.0.
Weekly Honor Roll: A. Meyer - AU, M. Weber - UF, W. Tidwell - HC, T. Woodjets - TU, D. Little - WS.
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; April 20 - Matt Toporski - Northwood University.
-- GLIAC Baseball Weekly Notes --
Ashland - The 11th-ranked Eagles went 6-1 this past week. The earned two victories over Hillsdale, split two games with Findlay and swept a three-game set against Grand Valley State. The wins improved the teams record to 36-9 overall and 21-3 in the GLIAC. With the series sweep over the Lakers, the Eagles expanded their conference lead to five and a half games. The top producers for the Eagles this week were Matt McAllester on the hitters' side and Ajay Meyer on the pitching side. McAllester played in seven of the Eagles' eight games and batted .391 with five runs scored and eight RBI. He also stole four bases on five attempts. Meyer pitched 12 innings, had a 2.25 ERA, struck out six, while only walking one batter in picking up two wins for AU. On the week Tyson Rowland moved a step closer to putting himself on top of many AU career record lists. He moved within four steals of being the all-time leader, he is third all-time in at bats - 34 behind the leader, is third all-time in runs score - seven behind the leader, is third all-time in games played - seven behind the leader, is second all-time in walks - 28 walks behind the leader. The Eagles host Saginaw Valley for a doubleheader on Wednesday and travel to Northwood this weekend for a three-game series.
Findlay - The Oilers went 3-2 last week...Matt Weber threw a two-hit shutout against Ashland for one of the wins...Findlay put up 34 runs and 39 hits in the three-game series against Northwood...Brian Sampsel ranks eighth in the conference in runs-batted-in with 35...He also leads the team with 45 hits, eight doubles and four homeruns...Ryan Rothenbuhler has a team-high 3.54 earned run average.
Grand Valley State - Grand Valley State senior centerfielder Casey Robrahn (Jenison, Mich.) became the GLIAC's all-time career hits leader. Robrahn has 257 hits in his career and moved past Ashland's Brandon Cornell (255) for the top spot...Robrahn moved into second in Laker baseball annals in all-time doubles with 45, trailing Scott Allen's total of 46, second in career total bases with 319 (Allen-340) and third in RBIs with 148...GVSU junior second basebman Kyle Gendron (Dearborn, Mich./Divine Child) hit .538 for the week (14-for-26) with nine runs scored, two triples, one double and eight RBIs...Senior pitcher Andre Benjamin (Grand Ledge, Mich.) had his streak of games started without a loss snapped at 17. Benjamin won 10 games as a starting pitcher in 2008 and was 7-0 as a starting pitcher in 2009. Benjamin's 17 wins is the fifth-best career total in Laker baseball history.
Hillsdale - The Hillsdale College baseball team had a seven-game homestand last week, going 1-6...The Chargers came from behind to top Saginaw Valley State 11-10 Saturday afternoon, just before the team's senior day fesitivities...Senior Brandon Hubbard had his best stretch of the season, getting nine hits last week and a season-high 4 RBI in the win over the Cardinals...He had two hits in four consecutive games and extended his school-record for doubles in a career to 42...Freshman pitcher Cody Mohr made his home debut on the mound Sunday against Saginaw Valley State...Sunday's 11-2, nine-inning loss lasted three hours and one minute, the team's longest game of the season...The team's 11 runs Saturday vs. the Cardinals was its third double-digit scoring game of the season...Pat Krebs leads the team with 10 multi-hit games this season and is on a current seven-game hitting streak...The Chargers are on the road all week, taking on Northwood and Wayne State.
Northwood - Northwood went 3-2 last week, sweeping a doubleheader against Saginaw Valley State before going 1-2 against Findlay over the weekend...the Timberwolves are now 19-17 overall, 13-12 in the GLIAC...NU is currently in fourth place in the conference and is looking for their first ever appearance in the GLIAC Tournament...Northwood's doubleheader sweep over SVSU was the first for the Timberwolves since the 1998 season...as a team, Northwood batted .344 for the week and committed just four errors in six games ... Ryan Palmer (Saginaw, Mich./Nouvel) batted a team-best .500 for the week, finishing with nine hits...Zach Lecker (Saginaw, Mich./MLS) also batted .500 for the week...nine Northwood players who started at least three games last week finishing with a batting average above .300...the Timberwolves will host Hillsdale Wednesday before a three-game series against Ashland in Midland Saturday and Sunday.
Saginaw Valley State - The Saginaw Valley State baseball team went 2-3 last week, as they started out with three losses, and then rebounded strong to finish with two wins. For the week, SVSU scored 30 runs. After falling twice to Northwood during the week, the Cardinals took the weekend, and put up impressive numbers against Hillsdale, as they scored 26 of 30 runs against the Chargers. Junior Kevin Dore (Bay City, Mich.) hit 8-for-11 against Hillsdale, including two doubles in the series. Juniors Chase Coulter (Clio, Mich.) hit one homerun during the weekend, and junior Josh Peterson (Midland, Mich.) hit two homeruns, one Saturday and one Sunday. The Cardinals are now 10-14-1 in the GLIAC, and 14-23-1 overall, which puts them in sixth place ahead of Hillsdale and Tiffin University. SVSU will stay on the road this week as they head to Ashland, Ohio, to take on the Eagles for two games, before traveling to Detroit to take on Wayne State for three games.
Tiffin - TU hit .297 for the week, with Curtin hitting .440 to lead the team...Colin Lowe and Ty Blake had another strong week, both of them hitting .409. Lowe tied for the team lead with 6 RBI while Blake added 5 RBI...Val Helldobler batted .385 with 4 doubles and 5 RBI...Trevor Johnson batted .312 and Jason Bailey .304 with 5 RBI, as six Dragons batted over .300 for the week...Brad Davis and Kyle Klinker each picked up saves during the week, combining for 2.2 innings of scorless work in the closer's role...Eric Ludrowsky posted a strong 1.42 ERA while going 1-0, allowing one earned run over 6.1 innings of work...Donnie Smith went 1-1 for the week, picking up the win in a 12-3 victory over top-ranked Grand Valley State.
Wayne State - Wayne State went 3-2 last week, splitting a doubleheader Wednesday at Grand Valley State before taking two out of three last weekend against Tiffin...Dane Little tossed his second consecutive complete game on the back end of the twinbill at GVSU, surrendering just one earned run on nine hits in a 5-4 WSU victory...the Warriors have won four of the last seven meetings with the Lakers...WSU officially dedicated its new dugouts and presented the 2008 squad with its GLIAC regular season championship rings over the weekend...Paul LaMantia , who led the team with a .529 average last week, went 7-for-8 in the doubleheader against the Dragons and homered in both games, including a two-run shot in the first game which snapped a 6-6 tie...Adam Kaminski also hit two home runs last week and led WSU with seven RBI...catcher Michael Wiseman played every inning behind the plate and hit .500 with a .600 on-base percentage...Wayne State will play its final two road games of the regular season Wednesday at Findlay before hosting Hillsdale this weekend.