Baseball Splits Second Straight Doubleheader Against No. 20 GVSU

OVERVIEW – GRAND VALLEY STATE

SCORES: Northwood Timberwolves 4, No. 20 Grand Valley State Lakers 3/Grand Valley Lakers 10, Northwood Timberwolves 4

RECORDS: Northwood (17-13, 4-4 GLIAC), Grand Valley (19-9, 2-2 GLIAC)

LOCATION: Gerace Stadium – Midland, Mich.

RECAP: Northwood baseball goes 1-1 against No. 20 Grand Valley State Sunday afternoon (April 10), wining game one 4-3 before dropping a 10-4 contest in game two. 

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS (SEVEN INNINGS)

• The Timberwolves got the offense started in the first inning with a Joey Johnston double. Khale Showers singled to left field to bring him in and take the early 1-0 lead.
• NU took advantage of two GVSU errors in the bottom of the second. Northwood plated three unearned runs, with the last one brought in by a sacrifice fly by Jacob Rybicki to extend the lead to 4-0.
• The Lakers got back into the game in the top of the sixth with a pair of runs to make the score 4-2.
• GVSU made it interesting in the top of the seventh, putting runners on second and third with nobody out. They scored one but were unable to plate the tying run, giving Northwood the win.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 4/5/1, Grand Valley 3/6/3
• Runners left on base: Northwood 4, Grand Valley 1
• Winning Pitcher – Drew Schultz (2-0): 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K
• Losing Pitcher – Colby Phipps (2-2): 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R (1 ER), 3 BB, 0 K
• Save – Jake Jekielek (1): 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 0 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Ben Clark: 2-3, R
• Johnston: 1-2, R, 2B
• Showers: 1-3, RBI

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS (NINE INNINGS)

• Grand Valley's offense pushed across five runs in the top of the second to take control of the game early 
• The Lakers added two more in the top of the fifth inning, putting the score at 7-0.
• David Jeffers got Northwood on the board in the bottom of the fifth. A sacrifice fly RBI scored Rhett Evans to make the score 7-1.
• GVSU responded with three runs in the top of the sixth to push their lead to 10-1.
• The Timberwolves kept fighting, driving across two runs in the bottom of the seventh. A Joey Johnston 2-RBI double brought home Jacob Rybicki and Alex Jarboe.
• Matt Magno kept the rally going, scoring Johnston with an RBI single to make the score 10-4.
• That proved to be the last run of the game, however, as the Lakers held the Timberwolves off the board in the final two inning.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 4/9/3, Grand Valley 10/9/0
• Runners left on base: Northwood 8, Grand Valley 9
• Winning Pitcher – Mark Scannell (6-1): 6.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 3 K
• Losing Pitcher – Logan Lee (1-2): 4 IP, 4 H, 7 R (6 ER), 4 BB, 4 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Evans: 2-4, 2B, R
• Rybicki: 2-4, R
• Johnston: 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI

UP NEXT

• Northwood will travel to Purdue Northwest for a series beginning on Thursday (April 14). The first game is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. Eastern time.