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BAY CITY, Mich. -- Tiffin University junior outfielder Ty Blake (Newark, Ohio) and Northwood University freshman pitcher Jordan Snider (Bay City, Mich./John Glenn) 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":
Ty Blake - Tiffin
(Jr, OF, R-R, Newark, Ohio)
Junior outfielder Ty Blake set a new Dragons single season record with his .571 week, collecting eight hits to give him 70 hits for the season, breaking the old mark of 68. Blake helped the Dragons to a 2-2-1 week, leading the team with six RBI. He had five RBI in the season-ending 14-4 win over Hillsdale, while also collecting three hits as the Dragons scored six runs in the 7th inning to force a 7-7 tie against nationally-ranked Ashland.
Weekly Honor Roll: Jason Cress - AU, Brian Sampsel - UF, Brad Raj - GV, Jesse Smith - HC, Ryan Rumsey - NU, Jason Potts - SV, Adam Kaminski - 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; April 20 - Paul LaMantia - Wayne State University; April 27 - Jacob Petkac - Ashland University; May 5 - Ty Blake - Tiffin University.
GLIAC Baseball "Pitcher of the Week":
Jordan Snider - Northwood
(Fr, RHP, Bay City, Mich./John Glenn)
Freshman pitcher Jordan Snider tossed a complete game against No. 19 Grand Valley State, allowing one unearned run while striking out five. Snider did not walk a batter, leading the Timberwolves to the win and helping Northwood clinch its first ever bid to the GLIAC Tournament. Jordan is currently fourth in the GLIAC in opponent batting average (.261), sixth in wins (6), and tied for fifth in complete games with four.
Weekly Honor Roll: Ben Minard - AU, Ryan Rothenbuhler - UF, Matt Cade - GV, Dan Rhodes - HC, Josh Wedesky - 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; April 27 - Dane Little - Wayne State University; May 5 - Jordan Snider - Northwood University.
-- GLIAC Baseball Weekly Notes --
Ashland - The second-ranked Eagles went 3-1-1 this past weekend. They traveled to Tiffin on Friday (May 1), AU won the first game, 7-2 and then the two teams tied after rain washed out the game in the ninth inning with the score 7-7. It was the first tie for Ashland since March 9, 1998, against Bloomsburg. That game ended 18-18. Ashland hosted Findlay on the weekend and took two out of three. They lost the first game, 6-4 and then won the next two, 4-1 and 5-4. In the third game of the series the Eagles came back from a one-run deficit in the ninth inning and tied the game on a RBI single by Tyson Rowland. AU won the contest on a bases-loaded walk by Ryan Avery later in the inning. Ben Minard was the top player for the Eagles this weekend. Minard pitched a complete-game three-hitter on Saturday against Findlay. In the contest, he struck out eight batters. He improved his season record to a perfect, 9-0, and on the season he has a 3.44 ERA and 56 strikeouts...Tyson Rowland in the first game on Saturday set the record for most games played in a career at Ashland. He broke Jason Boland's (1998-01) record of 223. Rowland has now played 226 games during his career at AU. The Eagles complete in the GLIAC tournament this weekend, their first game will be against Wayne State on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Findlay - The Oilers wrapped up their season by winning 13 out of their final 20 games...Findlay started last week with a sweep of Hillsdale College and then went 1-2 against nationally ranked Ashland University on the road to conclude their season...Senior Brian Sampsel hit .356 on the year with 11 doubles, seven homeruns and 40 runs-batted-in...His seven homeruns ranks second in the GLIAC...Sophomore Ryan Rothenbuhler led the pitching staff with a 3.15 earned-run-average...His ERA is the fifth best in the GLIAC...He also had a team-high three saves...His save total is the second best in the GLIAC...Rothenbuhler also threw a league best six complete games during the 2009 campaign.
Grand Valley State - Grand Valley State went 5-2 over the week, with two wins over Lewis and Wayne State and a single win over Northwood...The Lakers are now 38-13-1 overall on the season and enter the GLIAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the conference...GVSU is the defending GLIAC Champion and has won the previous five GLIAC Tournaments...GVSU is also 10th in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings (8.35), 14th in win-loss percentage (.744) and 25th in strikeouts per nine innings (8.1)...Laker hitters have posted a batting average of .348, which ranks 15th in Division II...Freshman Cody Grice ranks 22nd in D-II with a batting average of .448...Junior Kyle Gendron ranks 26th with 1.29 runs scored per game...Sophomore Danny Richard is seventh in the nation in walks allowed per nine innings at 0.89 and 16th in earned-run average at 1.78...Grice posted a team-leading batting average of .444 during the course of the week and led the Lakers with seven runs scored...Junior Brad Raj knocked in a team-high 11 runs during the week...Junior Matt Cade notched two wins on the week and is now 7-0 on the season.
Hillsdale - The Hillsdale College baseball team ended the 2009 season losing two out of three at Tiffin over the weekend...The Chargers' final record this year was 13-33 overall and 6-27 in the GLIAC...After losing 12 of their first 13 games in conference play, Hillsdale won five GLIAC games over the season's last three weeks...Four players finished the season batting over .300: John Bonvillian, Pat Krebs, Clay Stephens and Chris Stephens...Krebs and senior Jesse Smith were the only players to start all 46 games this season...Dan Rhodes earned the pitching victory Saturday over Tiffin and finished with a team-high four wins on the season...The team turned five more double plays than its opponents for the season (34-29).
Northwood - Northwood clinched their first berth to the GLIAC Tournament last week, going 4-1 overall...NU split a doubleheader against Grand Valley State before sweeping a three-game series against SVSU...Northwood is now 24-20 overall, 18-15 in the GLIAC...NU finished the regular season tied with Wayne State for third place in the GLIAC, but the Timberwolves went 3-2 against the Warriors to give Northwood the tiebreaker...pitching was the key to the strong week for the Timberwolves, posting a 1.70 ERA for the week...NU had three complete games in the week and allowed seven earned runs in 37.0 innings...all five pitchers who started for Northwood this week posted an ERA of 3.00 or better...Northwood's offense came to life in game two of a doubleheader, scoring 15 runs in the game that clinched a spot in the GLIAC Tournament field...as a team, the Timberwolves out-hit their opponents for the week .326-.228...Northwood will host Rochester in a doubleheader Tuesday before traveling to the GLIAC Tournament...the first game will in the tourney will be against Grand Valley State Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Saginaw Valley State - The Saginaw Valley State Cardinals struggled to find their offense this week, as they were only able to score 10 runs in five games. Freshman Jason Potts (Hartland, Mich.) was 4-8 during the stretch, including going 3-3 with 1 RBI against Wayne State on April 29 in the Cardinal 4-3 win. In the first game against Northwood, it was a pitcher's duel as freshman Ryan Longstreth took the mound and gave a solid 6-2/3 outing only allowing seven hits and two runs, and almost sent the game into extra innings, when Northwood sent a single down the right field line that just barely stayed fair scored the deciding run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Longstreth struck out four, and gave up no walks to the 27 batters he faced at Dow Diamond. In Game 2, juniors Chase Coulter and Charlie Thomas each went 1-2 with a walk, and seniors Kevin Schwedler and Andy Plouff each went 1-3 for the Cardinals. In Game 3, at University Center, junior Ryan Webber went 2-3 with 1 RBI. The Cardinals were in the game, and made a comeback in the bottom of the 9th, but couldn't capitalize with runners in scoring position. The losses to Northwood knock the Cardinals out of the GLIAC Tournament.
Tiffin - TU had a strong offensive week, batting .371 as a team to finish their season...Adam Greening led the team with a .667 average in three games at catcher, while Ty Blake set a new Dragons single season record with his .571 week, collecting 8 hits to give him 70 hits for the season, breaking the old mark of 68. Blake led the Dragons to a 2-2-1 week, leading the team with 6 RBI. He had 5 RBI in the season-ending 14-4 win over Hillsdale, while also collecting 3 hits as the Dragons scored 6 runs in the 7th inning to force a 7-7 tie against nationally-ranked Ashland...Jason Bailey batted .500 with 10 hits and 5 runs scored while Bobby Mullin also batted .500...Tom Touris hit .364 while Jordan Chiero and Trevor Johnson batted .286...Kenny Shaw had a strong senior day performance, tossing 7.2 innings in a 14-4 win against Hillsdale and allowing just 2 earned runs.
Wayne State - Wayne State went 2-3 at home last week, splitting a doubleheader Wednesday against Saginaw Valley State and dropping two out of three to Grand Valley State over the weekend...Dane Little went the distance for the fourth time in five starts and earned his second shutout against the Cardinals this month...he scattered seven hits, walked four and struck out six as WSU earned a 7-0 win over SVSU in Wednesday's opener...the Warriors surrendered two runs in the top of the seventh inning in Wednesday's second game and Saturday's opener, losing both as a result...WSU was able to secure a spot in the GLIAC Tournament with an 8-4 victory over GVSU in Saturday's second game...Adam Kaminski is batting .483 (29-60) with 18 RBI and 13 runs scored during his career-long 17-game hitting streak...Matthew Williams led the team with a .545 batting average last week (6-11)...Ryan LaPensee has scored a run in 13 straight games, while Michael Wiseman, who homered twice in the GVSU series, has driven in a run in six straight...Wayne State will make its fifth GLIAC Tournament appearance in the last six years this weekend.