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BAY CITY, Mich. - Saginaw Valley State University's senior catcher Ryan Webber (Clio, Mich./Powers Catholic) and Grand Valley State University' sophomore pitcher Kyle Schepel (Grand Rapids, Mich./G.R. Christian) have been chosen as the GLIAC Baseball "Player of the Week" and "Pitcher of the Week," respectively it was announced by the league office.
GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week:
Ryan Webber - Saginaw Valley State
5-11, Senior, Catcher
Clio, Mich./Powers Catholic
Senior catcher Ryan Webber hit .667 (12-18) on the week, leading the Cardinals to a 3-2 record against Findlay and Tiffin. Webber hit three home runs, a pair of doubles, scored eight runs and drove-in 17 runs, including a school record 11 RBI’s with a pair of home runs in SVSU’s 30-19 victory over Tiffin University. Webber is now hitting .453 on the year with four home runs and a team-high 35 RBI’s.
"Player of the Week" Honor
Roll: Ryan Avery - AU, Brett Lechner - NU, Jason
Reitenbach - UF, Devin Rudolph - TU, Andrew Trepel -
GV, Mike Vanchieri - HC, Ryan LaPensee - WS
2010 Baseball "Players of the Week": (3/17) Michael Wiseman - WS; (3/22) Cody Grice - GV; (3/29) Devin Rudolph - TU; (4/5) Ryan Webber - SV.
GLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week:
Kyle Schepel - Grand Valley State
6-0, Sophomore
Grand Rapids, Mich./G.R. Christian
Kyle Schepel dominated Findlay in the final game of their series on Saturday, pitching seven innings and allowing only two hits (.087 BA against) while striking out a career-high nine batters and walking none. Schepel retired the first seven Oilers he faced, including four straight via strikeout at one point before giving up his first hit of the game. After that, he then retired 12 more batters in a row as he went into the seventh, facing only two batters more than the minimum through seven innings, and held Findlay batters hitless in eight at-bats with two outs while forcing 10 ground ball outs out of the 12 outs that were put in play.
"Pitcher of the Week" Honor
Roll: Kevin Dunn - AU, Ethan James - UF, Pat Curtin- TU,
Carson Beauchaine - SV, Jordan Snider - NU, Justin Mazur - WS
2010 "Pitchers of the Week": (3/17) Justin Mazur
- WS; (3/22) Cory Rademacher - GV; (3/29) Pat Curtin - TU; (4/5)
Kyle Schepel - GV.
Ashland Eagles (17-11, 9-5 GLIAC)
It was an odd week for the Eagles as they lost a doubleheader at home to Wayne State, but bounced back to sweep a three-game set at Hillsdale by scoring 56 runs in the series. It was the most runs the Eagles have scored in three consecutive games since they dropped 58 runs at Gannon in 2008. The 3-2 week leaves the Eagles with a 17-11 record overall and a 9-5 record in league play. Junior Ryan Avery had the best week of his career. In five games, he hit .647 on 11 hits. He scored six runs had a double, a homer and eight RBI. His monster week doubled his runs, hits and doubles totals for the season. It was his first home run and nearly tripled his season RBI total. On the mound for the Eagles, Kevin Dunn had the top pitching performance. He made two appearances this week for the Eagles. In his lone start he pitched over six innings, while only allowing one run as he earned a victory. He also made a relief appearance and did not allow a run. On the week he gave up only one earned run, struck out seven and gave up eight hits in 8.1 innings. Ashland is scheduled for seven games this week.
Findlay Oilers (7-18, 3-11 GLIAC)
The Oilers went 1-6 last week, winning their first game of the week 4-2 against Concordia at home before losing their final six. In their win, Ethan James was victorious after allowing only one earned run on six hits in six innings of work. Andrew Schramm picked up the save to close out the game. Jason Reitenbach led the Oilers offense, hitting .450 during the week with one homerun, one triple and nine runs batted in. He also scored four runs and had three multi-hit games during the week. On the season, David Cort is hitting .435 in limited action while Reitenbach and Kyle Wilson lead the squad with a .325 batting average.
Grand Valley State Lakers (22-5, 14-2 GLIAC)
The Lakers went 5-0 in GLIAC play last week, averaging 12.6 runs per game as they notched two wins over Hillsdale and three wins over Findlay. Out of 10 players with at least seven at-bats last week, eight of them hit over .400 in the five games and four of them hit over .500. The Lakers hit 15 homeruns as a team, out-numbering their 13 doubles for the week. GVSU’s Zach Laupp (Mattawan, Mich.) and Jared Cowan (Davison, Mich.) have hit a combined .407 (35-for-86) with 26 runs, six doubles, four homeruns, and 29 RBI. Laupp has a .742 slugging percentage and .537 OBP while Cowan has a .711 slugging percentage and .519 OBP. Sophomore outfielder Cody Grice (Dewitt, Mich.) leads the GLIAC with 50 hits (50-for-108, .463 BA), and is threatening the GVSU single-season record of 90 hits, set by Kyle Gendron (Dearborn, Mich./Western Michigan) last season. GVSU is currently ranked in three national polls, as they are 9th in the NCBWA poll, 13th in the Ping!Baseball poll, and 21st in the Collegiate Baseball poll. This week, the Lakers have a doubleheader at home against Saginaw Valley State.
Hillsdale Chargers (7-19, 4-11 GLIAC)
The Hillsdale College baseball team went 0-5 last week against the GLIAC’s top two teams, Grand Valley State and Ashland. Ten of the Chargers’ first 15 conference games have come against those two teams, and Hillsdale has an 0-10 record against those teams. The Chargers are 4-1 against everyone else in the GLIAC. The Chargers lost both games Wednesday against the Lakers in the bottom of the seventh inning. Hillsdale allowed 56 runs in its three-game sweep at the hands of the Eagles. Freshman Mike Vanchieri has an eight-game hitting streak, with multiple hits in four of those games.
Northwood Timberwolves (12-15, 5-10 GLIAC)
Northwood went 2-4 last week, sweeping Tiffin in a doubleheader on Wednesday before getting swept in a pair of doubleheaders at Wayne State. The Timberwolves are now 12-15 overall, 5-10 in the GLIAC. Brett Lechner (Midland, Mich./Dow) had a strong week at the plate, batting .571 with six RBI’s. Jordan Snider (Bay City, Mich./John Glenn) earned the win against Tiffin in game one of the doubleheader, allowing two earned runs in a complete game victory. After allowing just five runs in the two wins over Tiffin, NU gave up 56 runs to Wayne State in four games. The Timberwolves will host seven games this week, taking on Davenport Tuesday for a single game before Ashland (April 7) and Grand Valley State (April 10-11) for doubleheaders.
Saginaw Valley State Cardinals (11-12, 8-6 GLIAC)
The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team went 3-2 this past week in GLIAC play. The Cardinals defeated the University of Findlay 7-1 and 19-4 in a mid-week doubleheader. They then lost two contests on Saturday to Tiffin University, 9-8 and 9-3 before bouncing-back for a 30-19 victory over the Dragons on Sunday. Ryan Webber led the Cardinal offense on the week, hitting .667 with three home runs, a pair of doubles and 17 RBI’s. Kevin Dore hit at a .550 clip, ripping three doubles, scoring 11 runs and adding six RBI’s. Charlie Thomas posted a .500 average, including a home run, two doubles, 10 runs and six RBI’s. Josh Peterson hit .444 with a home run, a triple, seven runs and seven RBI’s. The Cardinals will be back in action on Tuesday (Apr. 6), as they travel to Grand Valley State for a 2:00 pm doubleheader. SVSU will then visit Wayne State for a weekend series, beginning Saturday (Apr. 10) at 1:00 pm for a doubleheader before playing a single, nine-inning contest on Sunday at noon.
Tiffin Dragons (8-23, 5-12 GLIAC)
The Dragons batted .395 for the week, slugging .653 and posting a team on-base percentage of .445 in a 2-3 week. Val Helldobler led the team with a .529 mark while Ty Blake hit .526 with 10 hits and 8 runs scored. Devin Rudolph hit .500 with 4 home runs and 12 RBI (1.278 slugging pct.) while Jason Bailey hit .421 with 3 home runs. Don Smith and Pat Curtin picked up mound victories for TU, with Curtin allowing just 2 earned runs in a 9-3 victory over the Cardinals. Jordan Liette registered a save in Smith’s 9-8 win, allowing 1 earned run in 2.1 innings of relief. Tiffin University tallied 19 runs but it didn’t matter as they fell to Saginaw Valley State 30-19 in a game that featured 58 hits and 7 errors. Tiffin University totaled 18 runs in two games against Saginaw Valley State, coming back to win 9-8 in the opener and 9-3 in the nightcap. Tiffin University managed just two extra-base hits in a doubleheader at Northwood, falling 10-3 and 3-2. In the opener, Colin Lowe had 2 hits with a double but the Dragons managed only 6 more singles. Trevor Woodjetts took the loss, allowing 5 earned runs in 4.1 innings while the Dragons bullpen also failed to contain Northwood, allowing 5 earned runs in 1.2 innings of work. In game two, Kyle Blackford pitched well, allowing just 3 runs in the 5th inning, but it wasn’t enough as TU managed 5 singles and a double by Devin Rudolph. Ty Blake had 2 hits.
Wayne State Warriors (16-11, 10-3 GLIAC)
The Warriors went 6-0 last week with two wins over Ashland on Wednesday and four victories vs. Northwood over the weekend. Ryan LaPensee led Wayne State offensively last week with 10 runs, 10 RBI, a .654 average and 1.038 slugging percentage. Michael Wiseman drove in 13 runners this week as well. As a team, Wayne State batted .424 and was 7-for-8 in stolen base attempts. On the mound, six different Warriors earned wins and two more recorded saves. Leading the pitchers were Brady Cooper and Tyler Loehr. Cooper gave up just two runs on five hits in six innings while striking out seven to earn a win over Northwood. Loehr picked up a victory over Ashland by tossing five innings, giving up just two runs and striking out six Eagles. Justin Mazur also defeated Ashland, throwing a complete game in which he scattered eight hits with four strikeouts. Wayne State will travel to Eastern Michigan on Tuesday before resuming GLIAC play at home on Wednesday against Hillsdale.