WSU's Guenther and Spiess Chosen As GLIAC Baseball "Player of the Week" and "Pitcher of the Week", respectively

WSU's Guenther and Spiess Chosen As GLIAC Baseball "Player of the Week" and  "Pitcher of the Week", respectively

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BAY CITY, Mich. - Wayne State University junior catcher/outfielder Brad Guenther (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline) and junior pitcher Greg Spiess (Saline, Mich./Jackson CC) have been chosen as the GLIAC Baseball  "Player of the Week" and  "Pitcher of the Week", respectively.

trophies




GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week:
Brad Guenther

Wayne State
5-10, Junior C/OF
Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline

Brad Guenther scored a team-high six runs and hit .313 (5-16) at the plate with a double, as WSU won four of six games last week.  Guenther drove in two runs in Sunday’s 5-1 victory over Ashland, and scored three times in a win Wednesday against Hillsdale. He had three walks and two sacrifices last week, while posting an on-base percentage of .450. Guenther was also a perfect 2-2 in stolen bases for the week.

 

 

Baseball Player Weekly Honor Roll:  Adam Urbana - AU, Tommy Roush - UF, Brian Robinson - GV, Mike Blanchard - HC, Evan Shaw - OD, Matt Hunt - SV.

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; (4/23) Brad Guenther - WS.

 




GLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week:

Greg Spiess
Wayne State
6-4, Junior LHP
Saline, Mich./Jackson CC

Greg Spiess tossed a two-hit shutout as WSU defeated Ashland, 4-0, on Saturday. Spiess threw just 81 pitchers, issued no walks and struck out four as Wayne State recorded its first-ever shutout of Ashland.  The only base runners he permitted were on singles in the third and fifth innings. Spiess currently has a 3-1 record with a 2.91 earned run average. He is only allowing opponents to hit .250 to this point in the season.



 

Baseball Pitcher Weekly Honor Roll:  Zach Botjer - AU, Drew Hargrove - UF, Kyle Schepel - GV, Matthew Reck - HC, Brian Kilway - LE, Alberto Canales - OD, Mike Saunders - SV, Chris Pistorio - TU.

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; (4/23) Greg Spiess - WS.

 

 

Ashland Eagles

The Eagles lost five of six games – all on the road – last week. AU dropped a doubleheader at Tiffin on Wednesday before losing three of four at Wayne State on the weekend. Freshman Adam Urbania (Mentor, Ohio/Lake Catholic) was AU’s leading hitter last week, going 6-for-14 with three RBI, two runs scored and two stolen bases. He was 3-for-4 with two RBI in a 7-2 win at Wayne State on Saturday. Junior Zach Botjer (Deshler, Ohio) was AU’s starter in that game and tossed a complete game to improve to 6-2 on the season. He allowed just two runs on six hits with five strikeouts. Botjer is second in the GLIAC with 64 strikeouts. Sophomore Wade Kaido (Zanesville, Ohio) is tied for fifth in the GLIAC with 45 hits and sophomore Tyler Gray is second in the circuit with eight home runs. Three AU pitchers – Botjer, senior Aaron Hilt (Richmond, Ohio/Edison) and junior Brad Thomas (Orrville, Ohio) – have six wins apiece.



 

Findlay Oilers

The University of Findlay baseball team went 1-5 this week with their only win coming against Ohio Dominican on Wednesday.  Their overall record is 14-25 with GLIAC mark of 7-19.  Despite the loss, sophomore Drew Hargrove went the distance against the Lakers on Sunday, allowing only one earned run on five hits while striking out five.  They will take on Tiffin and Ashland this week before wrapping up their season at home against Northwood on May 5 to 6.

 

 

 

Grand Valley State Lakers

#11 Grand Valley State went 4-0 in its weekend trip to Findlay…The Laker pitching staff posted three shutouts in the four game set, the first time since 2007 that GVSU had three shutouts in a span of four games or less…For the weekend, the GVSU pitchers worked 28 innings, allowed only 12 hits and one earned run, striking out 26 and holding hitters to a .126 batting average against…Senior Kyle Schepel (Grand Rapids, Mich./Christian) threw a complete game one-hitter on Saturday (Apr. 21), striking out nine…Senior Cory Baker (Byron Center, Mich./North Dakota) posted 10 strikeouts on Sunday (Apr. 22) in six innings of work…Junior Brad Zambron (Waterford, Mich./Brother Rice) collected saves in three of the four games against Findlay, giving him 12 on the year and a new GVSU single-season record, besting his own total of 10 from last season…GVSU has now won 15 straight games overall and 16 straight games against Findlay…GVSU will welcome Wayne State to Allendale, Mich. on Saturday (Apr. 28) and Sunday (Apr. 29) for a pair of doubleheaders.





Hillsdale Chargers

The Hillsdale College baseball team went 2-4 last week, finishing up a six-game homestand while starting a five-game road trip that will cover three different cities…The big offensive numbers that happened the previous weekend versus Northwood continued in the team’s two games against Wayne State, as the Chargers and Warriors combined for 42 runs in their Wednesday doubleheader…However, Tiffin shut Hillsdale down this past weekend, allowing a grand total of nine runs in four games…The Chargers were scoreless for 18 consecutive innings during the weekend…Senior Mike Blanchard continues to lead the team in batting with a .377 average, and has at least one hit in 12 of his last 14 games…Blanchard is also third in the GLIAC with 18 stolen bases…Hillsdale is 4-4 in its eight home games this season…Hillsdale plays at Ohio Dominican this weekend, then will wrap up the regular season May 5-6 at home vs. Ashland.





 

Lake Erie Storm

The Storm continued its solid play, going 3-2 on the week to match last year’s school-record win total of 21.  After dropping a 12-5 nonconference game on Wednesday to 24th-ranked Mercyhurst, Lake Erie bounced back to take 3-of-4 at Northwood over the weekend… Against the Timberwolves, the Storm pitching staff was dominant, posting an ERA of 0.67 in 27 innings and allowing just two earned runs (four total) in the four games.  Brian Kilway (5-1) and Adam Beach (5-2) pitched complete game victories in games one and three, respectively, and freshman Cory Fox (2-1) threw five shutout innings in his first collegiate start in the finale, a 10-0 Storm rout.  The only loss on the weekend was in Saturday’s game two, a 1-0 setback in which Logan Nordquist went the distance…  Offensively, Matt Toth had six hits and four RBI on the week, including a 3-for-4 effort in Sunday’s first game. Freshman Sean Mathews had two hits against Mercyhurst on Wednesday and then went a career-best 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI in the final game at Northwood… the second-place Storm travels to Ashland Wednesday for a showdown with the Eagles and then hosts Saginaw Valley State this weekend for four games.



 

Northwood Timberwolves

Northwood went 2-3 last week winning a non-conference game at home against Davenport (Mich.) 7-6. The Timberwolves hosted Lake Erie in a weekend series dropping three of four games. Northwood is now 18-18 overall, 8-16 in the GLIAC. Lake Erie improves to 21-17 overall, 17-7 in the GLIAC. Northwood will now host Saginaw Valley State at Dow Diamond Tuesday (April 24). First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 4 p.m. Admission is $5.00 for the doubleheader.  As a special to all youth players in the area, any boys or girls wearing their team jersey get it for just $1.00.  The game will also feature the chance for kids to run the bases between games, plus a t-shirt toss and other great promotions.

 

 

Ohio Dominican Panthers

Despite having a team ERA of 1.85 and batting .293 as a team, compared to .260 for the opponents, ODU went 2-4 in its six games last week…The Panthers had sixth inning leads in two of their losses and a seventh inning lead in another…ODU’s pitching staff did not allow an extra base hit last week…The Panthers are second in the conference in batting average (.306), with senior Evan Shaw leading the conference in steals (19)…Junior Nick Venditti, after tossing a four-hit shutout on Sunday, ranks fourth in innings pitched (57.1)…Shaw led the team in hitting (.368), runs (4), RBI (3), steals (3) and tied for team lead with four walks in the six games last week…Senior Tyler Zaidel returned from injury to bat .364 in four games last week…Freshman Alberto Canales went 11.2 innings over two appearances last week and did not allow an earned run, striking out eight…Classmates Austin Bueter (6 IP, 0 ER) and Cole Carpenter (6 IP, ER) also had good outings.




 

Saginaw Valley State Cardinals

The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team took 3-of-4 last weekend in conference play over Ohio Dominican. The Cardinals are now 18-18 overall on the season and 14-10 in the conference. The Cardinal pitching staff’s successes have continued Mike Saunders has the second best overall ERA in the conference at 1.49 and is fourth in strikeouts with 50, while teammate Carson Beauchaine is fourth in the GLIAC at 1.85. As a team, SVSU has the second best earned run average (3.53) in GLIAC play so far this season. The SVSU offense is led by Brandon Schwanz who is 10th in the GLIAC batting .375 on the year from the dish. Kyle O’Boyle is also having success at the plate to the tune of a .340 batting average with 20 runs and a team-high 23 RBI’s. First baseman Mike VanAlst has driven home 18 Cardinals this season and is hitting .302 on the season, while Andy Orr is batting .348. Matt Hunt is batting .324 on the season. Saginaw Valley will be back in action on Tuesday when they face Northwood University for a doubleheader at Dow Diamond in Midland starting at 4:00 pm.



 

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 850 … Val Helldobler is first Dragon to record 400 in a career as he stands with 413 … The 2-1 win over Lake Erie on April 7 was the 430th career win for head coach Lonny Allen … The Dragons held Hillsdale scoreless for 19 2/3 consecutive innings … Val Helldobler needs just six hits to become the fourth Dragon to have 200 hits in a career.




 

 

Wayne State Warriors

Wayne State went 4-2 last week and moved into third place in the conference after splitting Wednesday at Hillsdale and taking three of four against Ashland over the weekend.  Greg Spiess and Alex Pierse tossed two-hit shutouts in the second and fourth games, respectively, versus the Eagles.  Brad Guenther, who ranks second in the conference in runs scored, crossed home plate six times last week and went 5-for-16 with three walks.  Eric Cunningham had a team-best eight hits and Kasey Koster, who homered twice at Hillsdale, drove in eight runs in the six games.  Wayne State will travel to Grand Valley State for a four-game series this weekend.