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BAY CITY, Mich. - Grand Valley State University sophomore infielder Giancarlo Brugnoni (Grosse Pointe, Mich./De La Salle) and Ashland University junior pitcher Zach Botjer (Deshler, Ohio/Sinclair CC) have been chosen as the GLIAC Baseball  "Player of the Week" and  "Pitcher of the Week", respectively.

GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week:
Giancarlo Brugnoni
Grand Valley State
6-3, Sophomore INF
Grosse Pointe, Mich./De La Salle

Giancarlo Brugnoni tied an NCAA Division II record with four home runs in four straight plate appearances against Tiffin on Saturday. For the week, Brugnoni hit .522 with nine runs, 12 hits, five home runs, 10 RBI, a 1.304 slugging percentage and the first triple of his career. Brugnoni became the first Laker ever with four or more multi-HR games in his career and the first with back-to-back multi-HR games.

Baseball Player Weekly Honor Roll:  Giancarlo Saia - AU; Tommy Roush - UF; Chris Stephens - HC; Brayan Cacique - LE; Austin Rinard - NU; Ryan Rovnak - OD; Jason Potts - SV; Kyle Vesey - WS.

2012 "Players of the Week":  (3/14) Steve Anderson - GV, (3/20) Christian Prince - OD, (3/26) Chet LaFave - SV, (4/2) Evan Shaw - OD, (4/9) Wade Kaido - AU, (4/16) Giancarlo Brugnoni - GV.

GLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week:
Zach Botjer
Ashland
6-0, Junior RHP
Deshler, Ohio/Sinclair CC

Zach Botjer won all three appearances he made for the Eagles last week. Botjer tossed 14 innings and allowed just three earned runs. On Monday, he allowed just two runs on five hits in five innings striking out five. Against Saginaw Valley State, Botjer threw two perfect innings of relief and earned the win in Saturday’s opener. The following day, he got the start in Game 1 and struck out an AU season-high 12 batters in a complete game.

Baseball Pitcher Weekly Honor Roll:  Preston Zachrich - UF; Kyle Schepel - GV; Dan Rhodes - HC; Mark Heard - NU; Nick Venditti - OD; Mike Saunders - SV; Greg Spiess - WS.

2012 "Pitchers of the Week":  (3/14) Cory Baker - GV, (3/20) Jordan Snider - NU, (3/26) Adam Beach - LE, (4/2) Kyle Schepel - GV, (4/9) Aaron Hilt - AU, (4/16) Zach Botjer - AU.

Ashland Eagles

The Eagles were 5-1 last week to move into a tie for second place in the GLIAC, just one game off the pace set by Grand Valley State. AU split a doubleheader with Ohio Dominican, winning 17-2 and losing 10-5 on Easter Monday. The Eagles swept a four-game series against Saginaw Valley State at Donges Field over the weekend. The Eagles got outstanding pitching performances over the weekend, not allowing an earned run until the seventh inning of Game 3. Brad Thomas (Orrville, Ohio) allowed just an unearned run in seven innings in Game 1 on Saturday and Zach Botjer (Deshler, Ohio) tossed two innings of perfect relief in a 2-1, nine-inning win for the Eagles. Aaron Hilt (Richmond, Ohio/Edison) tossed a complete game shutout in a 12-0 win over the Cardinals in Saturday’s nightcap. Botjer tossed a seven-inning complete game in a 3-1 win in Sunday’s opener. He struck out an AU season-high 12 batters and allowed just one run on five hits. He is second in the GLIAC with 59 strikeouts and is carrying a 2.17 ERA for the season. Giancarlo Saia (Mentor, Ohio/Lake Catholic) batted .381 last week and had a team-high seven RBI. He had a walk-off single in the eighth inning in Sunday’s nightcap. He also powered his first career home run in Sunday’s opener.

Findlay Oilers

The University of Findlay baseball team is 13-20 overall with a record of 6-14 in conference play.  The week started promising with a two game sweep of Urbana on Wednesday, but took a wrong turn as the Oilers traveled to Lake Erie and lost 3 out of four to the Storm.  Junior Tommy Roush is batting .433 on the season and is on pace to break the Findlay RBIs record of 46 (35), hits record of 68 (42), and possibly doubles of 27 (13).  The Oilers are scheduled to take on Ohio Dominican and Grand Valley State this week.

Grand Valley State Lakers

#20 Grand Valley State had a perfect 8-0 week, sweeping Hillsdale and Northwood twice each, then taking down Tiffin in four straight games…Sophomore Giancarlo Brugnoni (Grosse Pointe, Mich./De La Salle) had a career day against Tiffin, tying an NCAA Division II record with four straight home runs in four straight plate appearances…In game one against the Dragons, Brugnoni went 3-for-3 with three runs, five RBI, two home runs and the first triple of his career…In game two, Brugnoni went 2-for-3 with two runs, three RBI and two more home runs…His streak spanned from his last two plate appearances in game one to his first two plate appearances in game two…He added another home run against the Dragons on Sunday to give him five for the weekend…Senior RHP Kyle Schepel (Grand Rapids, Mich./Christian) took a no-hitter in to the seventh inning against Hillsdale, finishing the game with 6.1 innings of work and a career-high 10 strikeouts with one hit allowed in the shutout…Schepel then worked 5.1 innings with four hits allowed and five strikeouts against Tiffin with no runs allowed, giving him 11.1 shutout innings for the week…The Lakers will travel to Findlay for a pair of doubleheaders this weekend.

Hillsdale Chargers

The Hillsdale College baseball team played a wild weekend series with Northwood University, where a total of 85 runs were scored between the two teams in four games…The team scored a season-high 12 runs in the fifth inning of Saturday’s first game, and was able to withstand a nine-run seventh inning by the Timberwolves to win the game…Hillsdale scored 40 runs in four games over the weekend, but it took the team 14 games to score a total of 41 runs before the weekend series with Northwood started…Senior Chris Stephens had 1 home run and 11 RBI entering the weekend, but in the four games against the Timberwolves alone, he had 2 home runs and 14 RBI, including a career-high seven runs batted in during the opening game of the series…The Chargers’ previous season-high for runs in a game was nine, and they met or exceeded that total three times over the weekend…Senior Mike Blanchard has hits in 11 of his last 13 games and leads the team with a .394 batting average…Blanchard is also tied for first in the conference with 16 stolen bases…Hillsdale continues its homestand this week by hosting Wayne State on Wednesday.

Lake Erie Storm

Lake Erie went 5-1 in six games last week, extending their winning streak to six games before falling in the series finale against Findlay Sunday. The Storm swept doubleheaders from ODU (5-1 and 6-4) and Findlay (8-2 and 15-4) to start the week before splitting on Sunday. Offensively,  senior 2B Brayan Cacique went 10-for-15 (.667) in the six games with 12 RBI, 10 runs and four extra base hits. He homered in both games Saturday and drove in the winning run of Sunday’s 13-12 victory with two outs in the seventh. Junior 3B Cody Blood also had a big week, batting .500 (8-for-16) with 10 RBI. Blood homered twice in Sunday’s first game. Classmate and DH Pat Kilway homered once on Saturday and again on Sunday, the first two round trippers of his career. The Storm offense averaged 10 runs per game for the week, including a season-high 15 against Findlay Saturday. On the mound, sophomore Brian Kilway (4-1) won his fourth straight decision with a complete-game victory over Findlay (8-2). Junior Doug Fox recorded two saves on Wednesday while Pat Sinko (1-0) and Heath Kelley (2-1) earned relief wins during the week.  LEC hosts Mercyhurst on Wednesday in a nonconference game, before a weekend series at Northwood.

Northwood Timberwolves

Northwood went 2-4 last week, losing a pair at Grand Valley State before splitting a four game series against Hillsdale … Northwood is now 16-15 overall, 7-13 in the GLIAC … NU dropped two tough games that could have turned it into a 4-2 week, losing a 2-0 lead in the final inning at GVSU before committing seven errors that turned into 13 unearned runs in a 18-17 loss to Hillsdale … Northwood had scored a total of 46 runs in their opening 16 GLIAC games entering the weekend series against Hillsdale – the Timberwolves then plated 45 runs in the four games against the Chargers alone … Austin Rinard (Homer, Mich./Kellogg CC) had a pair of grand slams in the doubleheader that went from Saturday to Sunday due to darkness … in those two games, Rinard had three home runs, five hits and 10 RBI’s … senior Ryan Palmer (Saginaw, Mich./Nouvel) entered the weekend series against Hillsdale batting .197 on the season, but went 9-13 against the Chargers, good for a .692 batting average … he raised his batting average 87 points to .284 with his performance this weekend … Northwood now has 14 home games in the next 16 days, starting with  a home game Wednesday against Davenport before a weekend series against Lake Erie.

Ohio Dominican Panthers

Head coach Paul Page earned his 900th career win as the Panthers split with Wayne State on Sunday. Page, in his 25th season, has guided the Panthers to 10 40-win seasons, 21 30-win seasons and six NAIA World Series berths…Despite outhitting its opposition .335-.312 this week, ODU was outscored 44-28. Seven starters hit at least .316 on the week, including Austin Butler (5-for-9, 2 HR, 4 RBI), Ryan Rovnak (.450, 9-for-20) and Christian Prince (.412, 8 R, .545 OBP)…John Bowron has hit in five straight games for the Panthers…ODU is batting .309 as a team and has been tough on left-handed pitching this year, hitting .361…Nick Venditti was sharp in two outings, allowing just three hits in eight innings over two appearances. He picked up the win in relief over Wayne State on Sunday and struck out five to just one walk for the week.

Saginaw Valley State Cardinals

The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team went 2-4 last week in conference play with a sweep at Wayne State and then followed it up by going winless at Ashland over the weekend. The Cardinals are now 15-17 overall on the season and 11-9 in the conference. The Cardinal pitching staff’s successes have continued Mike Saunders has the best ERA in the conference at 1.49 and is fifth in strikeouts with 44, while teammate Carson Beauchaine is seventh in the GLIAC at 2.25. As a team, SVSU has the third best earned run average (3.79) in GLIAC play so far this season. Closer Justin Drzewicki picked up the win at Wayne State in game two by pitching the Cardinals out of a base loaded, no out jam in the bottom of the seventh. The SVSU offense is led by Brandon Schwanz who is 10th in the GLIAC batting .392 on the year from the dish with 19 runs scored. Kyle O’Boyle is also having success at the plate to the tune of a .363 batting average with 19 runs and a team-high 22 RBI’s. First baseman Mike VanAlst has driven home 18 Cardinals this season and is hitting .305 on the season, while Andy Orr is batting .338. Saginaw Valley will be back in action on Saturday when they host Ohio Dominican for a weekend series.

Tiffin Dragons

The 5-0 win over Ohio Dominican (March 24) was the 600th in school history … Pat Curtin had his 200th career hit vs. Lake Erie (April 7) joining Phil Sabataka (2000-03) and Ty Blake (2007-10) in that group … Pat Curtin holds the school record for putouts in a career with 844 … Val Helldobler needs two assists to become the first Dragon to record 400 in a career … The 2-1 win over Lake Erie on April 7 was the 430th career win for head coach Lonny Allen.

Wayne State Warriors

Wayne State snapped its four-game losing streak with a 7-4 win in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader at Ohio Dominican.  At the midway point of their conference schedule, the Warriors are in fourth place.  Kyle Vesey led WSU with a .455 batting average (5-for-11) and four runs scored last week.  He became the 18th player in school history to score 100 runs in a career.  Andrew Ciennik, Brad Guenther and Alex Trojan had five hits apiece last week as well.  Greg Spiess picked up his second win of the year Sunday at ODU, allowing just two runs on five hits over six innings.  Wayne State will travel to Hillsdale on Wednesday before facing Ashland in a four-game series this weekend in Detroit.