GVSU's Zak and LEC's Hogue Chosen As GLIAC Baseball "Player of the Week" and "Pitcher of the Week", respectively

GVSU's Zak and LEC's Hogue Chosen As GLIAC Baseball "Player of the Week" and  "Pitcher of the Week", respectively

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BAY CITY, Mich. - Grand Valley State University freshman shortstop Kevin Zak (Novi, Mich.) and Lake Erie College freshman pitcher Russ Hogue (Belle Center, Ohio/Indian Lake) have been chosen as the GLIAC Baseball  "Player of the Week" and  "Pitcher of the Week", respectively.

trophies




GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week:
Kevin Zak

Grand Valley State
6-1, R-Freshman SS
Novi, Mich.

Redshirt freshman Kevin Zak had a stellar weekend at the plate, hitting .714 (10-for-14), scoring six runs, driving in seven, hitting two doubles and one home run with a stolen base. Zak hit .625 (5-for-8) with runners in scoring position and recorded a 1.071 slugging percentage. He had three three-hit games during the series against Wayne State, including a 3-for-3 game with two runs, three RBI, a double, and a home run.

 

 

Baseball Player Weekly Honor Roll:  Zach Thompson - AU, Reid Rothenbuhler - UF, Nolan Nunez - HC, Matt Toth - LE, Austin Rinard - NU, Kyle Tisdale - OD, Cam Wiechmann - SV, Jordan Chiero - TU, 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; (4/23) Brad Guenther - WS; (4/30) Kevin Zak - GV.

 




GLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week:

Russ Hogue
Lake Erie
6-3, Freshman RHP
Belle Center, Ohio/Indian Lake

Freshman Russ Hogue tossed the best performance of his young career with a complete-game shutout against Ashland University Wednesday. Hogue scattered eight hits, striking out one batter, while walking just one batter for the game. He picked up his first college complete game and win. Hogue needed just 94 pitches to retire the Eagles and was in command the entire way in the 9-0 victory.





 

Baseball Pitcher Weekly Honor Roll:  Zach Botjer - AU, Ethan James - UF, Ryan Garman - GV, Michael Keve - HC, Luke Bivens - NU, Nick Venditti - OD, Mike Saunders - SV, Jordan Liette - TU, Billy Hurley - 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; (4/23) Greg Spiess - WS; (4/30) Russ Hogue - LE.

 

 

Ashland Eagles

The Eagles were 3-3 last week, splitting all three doubleheaders. AU won the first game on all three days. The Eagles split with Lake Erie on Wednesday before splitting a four-game set with Findlay on Friday and Sunday. Junior right-hander Zach Botjer (Deshler, Ohio) was 2-0 in two starts last week with a 1.38 ERA. He worked 13 innings, struck out nine and allowed just eight hits. Senior outfielder Zach Thompson (Marshalltown, Iowa) led the Eagles in hitting, batting .529 (9-for-17) on the week with a .619 on-base percentage. He scored six runs for the week. Sophomore outfielder Wade Kaido (Zanesville, Ohio) batted .450 (9-for-20) and hit his first career home run with a team-high five RBI. Senior outfielder Ethan Houck (Fort Wayne, Ind.) also hit his first career home run on Senior Day on Sunday. The Eagles are fifth in the GLIAC and travel to Hillsdale for a four-game set to finish the regular season.


 

Findlay Oilers

The University of Findlay baseball team is 16-29 overall on the year with a 9-23 mark in conference play.  This week, the Oilers went 2-4 with their wins coming against Ashland.  Incredibly, sophomore Derek Draper picked up both wins in back-to-back days with 1 and 1/3 innings pitched in relief on Friday, then went the distance picking up his second win on Sunday.  Findlay will conclude their season at home in a four game series this weekend against Northwood.

 

 

 

Grand Valley State Lakers

#8 Grand Valley State split a pair of doubleheaders with Wayne State in the final home games of the season and head coach Steve Lyon’s final series at home…GVSU dropped the opening game 7-6, won the next two 7-2 and 4-2, then had a comeback fall short in the conclusion, 11-8…Redshirt freshman Kevin Zak (Novi, Mich.) was blistering at the plate, hitting .714 (10-for-14) in the series with six runs, two doubles, one home run and seven RBI for a 1.071 slugging percentage…Freshman Mike Nadratowski (Canton, Mich./Plymouth) hit .583 (7-for-12) with seven runs and three RBI on the weekend, raising his season batting average to a team-leading .406…Senior RHP Ryan Garman (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Johnson County C.C.) had a complete game four-hitter on Saturday, striking out five with no walks to move to 8-2 on the season, tying him for the GLIAC lead in victories…The Lakers will wrap up the regular season with a six game roadtrip this week, playing twice at Northwood on Wednesday (May 2) and playing in a pair of doubleheaders at Ohio Dominican (May 5-6).





Hillsdale Chargers

The Hillsdale College baseball team lost its last three games of the weekend at Ohio Dominican, despite giving up just 10 total runs in those three games…The Chargers had just seven hits as a team in Sunday’s two games, 4-2 and 2-1 losses…The team’s earned run average has dropped by a half a run per game since April 21…The team’s hottest hitter of late has been sophomore infielder Nolan Nunez, who had a career-high four hits vs. ODU Sunday…In 13 games played since April 14, Nunez is batting .432 and has raised his season batting average from .097 to .258…Senior Mike Blanchard’s 19 stolen bases now rank him sixth on Hillsdale’s single-season top 10 list in that category…Blanchard is also on pace to record the highest batting average the Chargers have seen in a single season since Brandon Hubbard hit .382 in 2007…Hillsdale will play its first Division I opponent in three years Tuesday, playing a single nine-inning game at Eastern Michigan University Tuesday…This weekend, the Chargers will close out their 2012 regular season by hosting Ashland University in a four-game series.



 

Lake Erie Storm

The Storm continued its solid play, going 3-3 on the week set a new school-record with 24 victories.  Lake Erie split a doubleheader at Ashland Wednesday and a four-game set with Saginaw Valley State over the weekend… Against the Eagles, Lake Erie freshman Russ Hogue tossed the best performance of his young career with a complete-game shutout… Senior outfielder Matt Toth excelled in that doubleheader going 6-for-7… Toth hit a blistering, .706 clip this week  (12-for-17)… Saturday Lake Erie got a 3-2 extra inning win over SVSU… Junior Doug Fox worked four innings of relief allowing one hit to get the win… Senior Josh Crout had the game-winning single in the ninth in a pitch-hitting role… Sunday, Lake Erie split with SVSU coming one strike away from the sweep… Seniors Jae Leeworthy and Brayan Cacique and sophomore Garrett Emling homered on the afternoon… The second-place Storm host Ohio Dominican for Senior Day Wednesday and then travel to Wayne State this weekend for four games.




 

Northwood Timberwolves

Northwood went 0-6 last week, dropping a pair to Saginaw Valley State before losing four over the weekend to Tiffin … the Timberwolves are now 18-24 overall, 8-22 in the GLIAC … Austin Rinard (Homer, Mich./Kellogg CC) hit .333 with a home run and a team-best four RBI’s for the week … freshman Luke Bivens (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview) continued his strong first collegiate campaign despite going 0-1 for the week … he allowed one earned run in his second complete game of the season … Bivens currently leads the team with a 2.70 ERA, which ranks him in the top 10 in the GLIAC … Northwood will finish its season with games against Alma, Grand Valley State and Findlay this week.

 

 

Ohio Dominican Panthers

ODU stayed alive for a berth in the GLIAC tournament by taking three of four games from visiting Hillsdale over the weekend…Runs were hard to come by in the series, with the two teams combining for just 19 in the four-game set…The Panthers’ pitching staff has allowed four runs or fewer in each of the past nine games, going for a combined 1.41 ERA in that stretch and holding the opposition to a .236 batting average…Junior Nick Venditti and freshman Austin Bueter combined to strike out 22 Charger hitters on Saturday, with each notching a career-high 11 punchouts in their starts…Freshman Kyle Tisdale finished with six hits in 12 at bats to lead the offense, registering a trio of multi-hit games on the weekend…Sophomore Bryan Rudolph launched his team-best third home run of the season on Sunday to help ODU sweep that day’s games.



 

Saginaw Valley State Cardinals

The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team went 4-2 in conference play last week with a two-game sweep over Northwood at Dow Diamond followed up a four-game weekend series split with Lake Erie. The Cardinals are now 22-20 overall on the season and in fourth place at 18-12 in the conference. The Cardinal pitching staff has been the key to success for SVSU as Mike Saunders has the best overall ERA in the conference at 1.41 and is fourth in strikeouts with 59. Teammate Carson Beauchaine is fourth in the GLIAC at 2.09. As a team, SVSU has the second best earned run average (3.76) in GLIAC play so far this season. The SVSU offense is led by Brandon Schwanz who is sixth in the GLIAC batting .377 on the year from the dish, including a clutch two-out hit against Lake Erie in game two on Sunday, which plated the game-winning run. Andy Orr is second on the team in hitting at .339 with 16 RBI’s, including a home run in game two against the Storm on Sunday as SVSU mounted a comeback. Cam Wiechmann has been hot as of late from the plate and is batting .325 in 29 games going 27-for-83 with 15 RBIs’. Saginaw Valley will be back in action on Wednesday when they host Wayne State University for a doubleheader starting at 2:00 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 collected his 200th career hit vs. Northwood, the fourth Dragon to hit the mark, second this season … Dragons have won 11 of last 12 games … Chris Pistorio has throw 14 consecutive scoreless innings.

 

 

Wayne State Warriors

Wayne State split a four-game series last weekend at nationally-ranked Grand Valley State, winning the series opener, 7-6, and the finale, 11-8.  The Warriors are in third place with six games remaining against the fourth-place (SVSU) and second-place (Lake Erie) teams in the conference.  Kyle Vesey went 4-for-12 in the GVSU series and led Wayne State with six RBI and six runs scored.  Three of his hits were for extra bases including his first home run of the year.  Kenny Davis had a team-high five hits, and Kyle Zimmerman hit his first collegiate homer.  On the mound, Josh Wedesky and Alex Pierse each picked up a victory, and Billy Hurley earned his eighth save of the season on Saturday.