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BAY CITY, Mich. - Wayne State University senior outfielder Kyle Vesey (Brighton, Mich.) and Saginaw Valley State University junior pitcher Mike Saunders (Mt. Morris, Mich./E.A. Johnson) have been chosen as the GLIAC Baseball "Player of the Week" and "Pitcher of the Week", respectively.
GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week:
Kyle Vesey
Wayne State
6-4, Senior OF
Brighton, Mich.
Kyle Vesey hit .591 last week (13-for-22) with four RBI and a
team-high eight runs scored for WSU. Vesey had three hits in each
game Wednesday helping WSU to a split at Saginaw Valley State. He
then went 7-for-14 with three RBI as the Warriors took three out of
four from Lake Erie over the weekend. He scored the game-winning
run in the seventh inning of Sunday’s first game on a wild
pitch after hitting a one-out triple.
Baseball Player Weekly
Honor Roll: Wade Kaido - AU, Riley Christian - UF,
Brian Robinson - GV, Nolan Nunez - HC, Aaron Lindgren - LE, Zack
Dascenzo - OD, Chet LaFave - SV, Kyle Robinson - TU.
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;
(5/8) Kyle Vesey - WS.
GLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week:
Mike Saunders
Saginaw Valley State
6-2, Junior RHP
Mt. Morris, Mich./E.A. Johnson
Mike Saunders threw a complete game
two hitter for a 3-1 victory over Tiffin in game one of the weekend
series. The SVSU ace struck out six batters and walked three.
Saunders gave up just one earned run in the game improving his
conference leading ERA to 1.40. Saunders has thrown at least seven
innings in each of his last six GLIAC starts. He is now 6-2 on the
season in 64.1 innings with 65 strikeouts.
Baseball Pitcher Weekly Honor Roll: Aaron Hilt - AU, Preston Zachrich - UF, Kyle Schepel - GV, Matthew Reck - HC, Michael Backes - LE, Alberto Canales - OD, Jordan Liette - TU, Justin Sylvester - 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; (5/8) Mike Saunders - SV.
Ashland Eagles
The Eagles dropped three of four
games at Hillsdale last week. They lost both games on Saturday by
identical 2-1 scores. On Sunday, the Chargers took Game 1, 3-2, in
eight innings before the Eagles came up with a 3-2 win in Game 2.
Senior right-hander Aaron Hilt (Richmond, Ohio/Edison) picked up
the Eagles’ only win on the weekend in his final collegiate
regular season start. The AU starting staff threw four complete
games on the weekend and compiled a 2.28 ERA in 27.2 innings
pitched. Junior right-hander Zach Botjer (Deshler, Ohio) struck out
11 in his start on Saturday, but the AU offense mustered only one
run. The Eagles batted 5-for-37 (.135) with runners in scoring
position last week. Sunday’s Game 2 win snapped a seven-game
losing streak for the Eagles in the second games of doubleheaders,
dating back to April 15. AU will play top-seeded Grand Valley State
in the first round of the GLIAC Tournament on Wednesday at 2
p.m.
Findlay
Oilers
The University of Findlay baseball team finished their season with a sweep of Northwood to end with an overall record of 20-29, and a 13-23 mark in GLIAC play. Dustin Zielaskiwicz finished his career in the UF record books with 11 career triples during his career, breaking the old mark of 8. Tommy Roush finished the season with team-high .384 batting average and had 18 doubles. Riley Christian had 40 runs scored and 20 stolen bases in the season.
Grand Valley State Lakers
#10 Grand Valley State finished its final week of the regular
season with a 5-1 record on a six-game road trip, sweeping
Northwood and taking three of four against Ohio Dominican...By
winning the first two games against the Panthers, GVSU clinched its
16th GLIAC Championship and ninth in the last 10 years...Senior
Kyle Schepel (Grand Rapids, Mich./Christian) threw a complete game
three-hitter against Northwood, striking out 10 without issuing a
walk...Schepel finished the regular season as the GLIAC leader in
wins (9) and strikeouts (84), while finishing third in ERA
(1.91)...Junior Brad Zambron (Waterford, Mich./Brother Rice) picked
up his 14th save of the season against Ohio Dominican, extending
his GVSU and GLIAC single-season record...Senior Brian Robinson
(Troy, Mich.) reached base in 17 of his 27 plate appearances last
week, recording a .630 on-base percentage...Robinson had a
nine-game run-scored streak end on Sunday...Freshman Mike
Nadratowski (Canton, Mich./Plymouth) finished the season as the
GLIAC leader in batting average (.410), while senior Steve Anderson
(Northville, Mich.) topped the RBI list (41) and sophomore
Giancarlo Brugnoni (Grosse Pointe, Mich./De La Salle) led the GLIAC
in home runs (12)...GVSU earned the top seed in the GLIAC
Tournament and will play Ashland in the first game of the
tournament at 2 p.m. on Wednesday (May 9).
Hillsdale Chargers
The Hillsdale College baseball team
wrapped up the 2012 regular season by winning 3 out of 4 from
Ashland University at home over the weekend…The Chargers
finished the season with an overall record of 14-35 and a GLIAC
record of 12-24…Seven of the team’s 14 wins came at
home and the team finished over .500 at home
(7-5)…Saturday’s wins over the Eagles represented
Hillsdale’s first doubleheader sweep of Ashland since April
13, 2003…Hillsdale’s team earned-run average dropped
by a full run over the season’s final two weeks…The
Charger pitching staff allowed an average of less than four runs
per game over the season’s final 12 games…Sophomore
Nolan Nunez finished the season with at least one hit in 12 of his
last 14 games, and raised his batting average from .000 on April 13
to .295 at the end of the season…Senior Mike Blanchard
finished the season with a .385 batting average, the 10th-highest
in school history and the best single-season batting average by a
Hillsdale player since 2001…Blanchard’s 22 stolen
bases also ended up to be the sixth-best total in a season in
school history…Senior Pat O’Hearn completed his career
with hits in 10 of his last 12 games, and scored the game-winning
run in the team’s final win of the season.
Lake Erie Storm
Lake Erie finished the regular
season with a school record 26 wins (26-24 overall) and a 22-14
GLIAC mark, finishing third in the conference after being picked to
finish eighth by the league coaches in the preseason. The Storm
will make its GLIC Tournament debut on Wednesday against 4th-seeded
Tiffin… Lake Erie was tied for 10th in last week’s
NCBWA Midwest Region Media Poll, its first appearance in the
rankings… the Storm went 2-4 last week, splitting a
doubleheader with Ohio Dominican on Wednesday and on Saturday at
Wayne State. LEC then dropped a pair of one-run games on Sunday to
wrap up the regular season…. Matt Toth and Reid Rizzo each
batted .438 for the week while Cody Blood went 8-for-20 and Aaron
Lindgren had seven hits and drove in five runs… Michael
Backes (2-3) held ODU to just two runs in five innings to earn the
win Wednesday on the mound and clinch the Storm’s playoff
spot. Adam Beach tossed five innings of three-hit ball in his final
tune-up before the playoffs on Saturday. He allowed just one
unearned run but did not factor in the decision.
Northwood Timberwolves
Northwood went 1-6 last week, defeating Alma in a non-conference matchup before losing a twinbill to #10 Grand Valley State and dropping all four in a weekend series at Findlay… the Timberwolves finished the season 19-30 overall, 8-28 in the GLIAC.
Ohio Dominican Panthers
The Panthers just missed on a GLIAC
tournament bid after closing the season with a 2-4 mark this
week…ODU ended the year with a 24-24 record overall (16-18
GLIAC)…The Panthers finished fourth in the conference in
batting average with a .302 clip, with seven regular players
hitting over .300 on the season…Zack Dascenzo capped his ODU
career with a great day at the plate Sunday, going 4-for-4 with two
doubles, three walks and three RBI, including the walk-off base hit
in the ninth for a 5-4 win over No. 10 Grand Valley…Kenny
Dixon also had a good week at the plate, hitting .545, while Bryan
Rudolph batted .421 with a homer, a triple and five
RBI…Alberto Canales was the winner in both of ODU’s
games this week, working five strong innings at Lake Erie, then
notching the final out with the bases loaded in the top of the
ninth against GVSU…The Panthers are slated to return
virtually their entire pitching staff, as hurlers who made 47 of
the team’s 48 starts were underclassmen, while 13 players who
made at least 10 starts in the field will also be back.
Saginaw Valley State Cardinals
The Saginaw Valley State University
baseball team went 2-4 in conference play last week as they split
with Wayne State on Senior Day before dropping three of four to
Tiffin over the weekend. The Cardinals finish the regular season
24-24 overall on the season and in fifth place at 20-16 in the
conference. The Cardinal pitching staff has been the key to success
for SVSU all year as Mike Saunders has the best overall ERA in the
conference at 1.40 and is third in strikeouts with 65. Teammate
Carson Beauchaine is fourth in the GLIAC at 2.02 and third in
conference play at 1.70. As a team, SVSU has the third best earned
run average (3.84) in GLIAC play. The SVSU offense is led by
Brandon Schwanz who is eighth in the GLIAC batting .369 on the year
from the dish. Chet LaFave is second on the team in hitting at .342
with 21 RBI’s. Cam Wiechmann has been hot as of late from the
plate and is batting .340, while Andy Orr is hitting .339. Saginaw
Valley, the No. 5 seed, will be back in action on Wednesday when
they battle Wayne State University, the No. 2 seed, in the first
round of the GLIAC Tournament on Wednesday starting at 10:30
AM.
Tiffin Dragons
The sweep over Saginaw Valley State
on Sunday put Dragons in the GLIAC tournament for the first
time in school history … TU is 14-2 over the last 16 games
with losses only to Hillsdale and Saginaw Valley State … 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 … Val Helldobler collected his 200th career hit
vs. Northwood, the fourth Dragon to hit the mark, second this
season.
Wayne State Warriors
Wayne State
went 4-2 in the final week of the regular season, splitting a
doubleheader Wednesday at Saginaw Valley State before taking three
out of four against Lake Erie over the weekend. The Warriors
surpassed the Storm in the conference standings to secure second
place heading into the GLIAC Tournament this week. Kyle Vesey
hit .591 with four RBI and a team-high eight runs scored last week
to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. Justin Sylvester
had two solid outings and picked up a win in relief on Sunday,
allowing just one hit over 4.1 innings with four strikeouts.
Alex Pierse allowed just one unearned run in six innings in a
victory Saturday against the Storm. Wayne State, playing in
its eighth GLIAC Tournament in nine years, will face Saginaw Valley
State in the first round Wednesday.