*
- Weekly notes are submitted by the GLIAC
member Sports Infomation departments
Weekly Notes
Ashland University
Eagles
AU will play Bellarmine in the first round of the North Central Regional Tournament on Thursday (May 15). Ashland is the fourth seed in the tourney. This is the ninth time in the last 10 years AU has participated in the NCAA playoffs. This is the third consecutive season the Eagles have received a postseason bid. A year ago, Ashland hosted the tourney at Canal Park in Akron, OH. The Eagles won a regional crown in 2006. Under head coach John Schaly, Ashland has won regional titles in 1999, 2002 and 2006. The Eagles have advanced to the NCAA Division II World Series four times – 1995, 1999, 2002 and 2006. In 2006 AU was 1-2 at the World Series and ended the year ranked fifth nationally. Ashland opened this season by splitting a pair of games at Bellarmine. The Eagles are 3-3 against the five teams in the regional field…sophomore Ben Minard (Delaware, OH/Olentangy) was tabbed the GLIAC player of the year last week. He is the first Ashland sophomore to win the award. This is the third consecutive year an Ashland player has claimed the award and the sixth time in the last seven years an Ashland player has been named the GLIAC player of the year…as of last week, Minard was fourth in the country in batting average(.472) and 17th in on-base percentage (.532). As a team, AU was fifth in the nation in batting average (.361) and 13th in slugging percentage (.540)…AU lost two games at the GLIAC Tournament last week, falling to Grand Valley State, 3-2 and to Findlay, 4-3. That’s just the second time this season the Eagles scored three or fewer runs in two consecutive games. The other time came on Mar. 30 at Northwood when the Eagles won, 2-1 and lost, 7-2…junior outfielder Tyson Rowland (Warren, OH/Harding) has 53 career stolen bases. He’s close to moving into the top five in school history in thefts. Fifth place on the all-time list belongs to Kurt Habermehl (56 steals). This year, Rowland has been successful on 27-of-28 stolen base attempts.
Weekly Notes
University of Findlay
Oilers
The Oilers advanced to the championship game of the GLIAC Tournament for the second time in school history…The Oilers have only participated in the GLIAC Tournament twice, reaching the championship game in the 2005 and 2008 seasons…Both times they were eliminated by Grand Valley State University…Findlay defeated Ashland University and Wayne State University 4-3 in the losers bracket to reach the finals…The win over Ashland gave the Oilers their 27th of the season, a new single season school record…Junior Brian Sampsel has hit a single season school record 27 doubles…Senior Kyle Blessing has broken his own single season school record for singles in a season…He now has 51 on the season…Seniors Jeff Peters and George Rohan have tied the single season mark for homeruns with eight apiece…Rohan’s 111 total bases is also a single season school record as well as senior Josh Barney’s 11 saves.
Weekly Notes
Grand Valley State University
Lakers
Grand Valley State will be making its seventh straight appearance in the NCAA DII National Tournament. The Lakers are one of three teams (Tampa and Central Missouri State University) to appear in every tournament since the 2002 season...Grand Valley State has won six straight GLIAC Championships and four straight GLIAC Tournament titles. The Lakers’ 13 all-time GLIAC Championships tops all schools in the league. Grand Valley State has now won 14 straight GLIAC Tournament games...Grand Valley State head baseball coach, Steve Lyon, has won every GLIAC Tournament title that he has coached. Lyon was the head coach at Oakland when the Pioneers won the GLIAC Tournament title in 1994. Lyon has now coached Grand Valley State to the 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008 GLIAC Tournament titles. The 2003 and 2006 tournaments were called due to weather...1B Cory Maguire hit .636 (7-for-11) with five RBIs in the GLIAC Tournament, while 2B Josh Hillyard hit .500 (5-for-10) with four RBIs...Four Laker pitchers held three GLIAC Tournament opponents to a .192 batting average...Grand Valley State junior LHP Andre Benjamin’s 10 victories rank second on the GVSU all-time single-season list...RF Derek Hinke’s 18 doubles in 2008 ranks second on the GVSU single-season list, while his 72 hits is sixth...DH/LF Casey Robrahn recorded his 200th career-hit, ranking him second on the Lakers’ all-time list behind Scott Allen’s 238.
Weekly Notes
Wayne State University
Warriors
After winning their first-round game Thursday against Findlay, the Warriors lost twice on the second day of the GLIAC Tournament including a rematch with the Oilers in an elimination game … Wayne State held off a late rally by Findlay to earn a 3-2 win Thursday at Dow Diamond … Anthony Bass (Trenton, Mich.) went the distance for the Warriors, his first career nine-inning complete game, and surrendered just two runs on five hits … he walked three and struck out six as Wayne State, the top seed in the tournament, earns its first postseason victory since 2005 … Bass is just the sixth Warrior hurler in history to record nine wins in a season and the first since current assistant coach Kyle Hill in 2005 … a 5-2 loss Friday to Grand Valley State set up another WSU-UF battle in the elimination bracket later that evening, which saw Findlay score twice in the ninth inning to defeat Wayne State, 4-3 … John Kessick (Niles, Mich.), who did not factor into the decision against the Oilers, set personal season-highs in innings pitched (8.0) and strikeouts (10) … Ryan LaPensee (LaSalle, Ont.) was 5-for-11 (.455) in the tournament while Charlie Dunneback (Lansing, Mich.) went 4-for-9 (.444) with a double and a sacrifice hit … after being selected to the NCAA Great Lakes Regional tournament for the second time in school history, the fifth-seeded Warriors will face St. Joseph’s in the first round Thursday afternoon.
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