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March 19, 2009

GVSU's Cody Grice and Andre Benjamin Named GLIAC Baseball "Player" And "Pitcher Of The Week," Respectively

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Bay City, Mich. -- Grand Valley State University freshman outfielder Cody Grice (Lansing, Mich.) and senior pitcher Andre Benjamin (Grand Ledge, Mich.) have been named GLIAC Baseball "Player" and "Pitcher of the Week," respectively it was announced by the league office.

Cody Grice - Grand Valley State University GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week:
Cody Grice - Grand Valley State
(RFr, OF, R/R, Lansing, Mich./DeWitt)

Grand Valley State freshman rightfielder Cody Grice hit .500 in five Laker wins (5-0) last week. Grice was 8-for-16 with a double and home run. He scored seven runs and drove in three. In addition, Grice tallied a .750 slugging percentage, a .556 on base percentage and stole a base. Grice was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a solo HR in game one versus Hillsdale Saturday. He followed with a 2-for-3 outing in game two Saturday and a 2-for-4 performance with an RBI, a run scored and a double.

Weekly Honor Roll:  Jeff Foltz - AU, Kyle Wilson - UF, Adam Connell - HC, Adam Rider - NU, Michael Wiseman - WS.

2009 GLIAC Baseball Players of the Week:  (3/19) J. Foltz - AU; (3/23) C. Grice - GV.

Andre Benjamin - Grand Valley State University GLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week:
Andre Benjamin - Grand Valley State
(Sr, LHP, Grand Ledge, Mich.)

Grand Valley State University senior left-hand pitcher Andre Benjamin recorded a complege-game, four-hit shutout win over Hillsdale College (4-0) Saturday afternoon. Benjamin, now 4-0 on the year, struckout seven and walked four. Benjamin leads the squad in strikeouts (31), while yielding seven runs in 28 innings of work. He currently leads the GLIAC in wins (four), and winning percentage (4-0), while ranking second in strikeouts, fourth in innings pitched (28.0), and sixth in opponents batting average (.212).

Weekly Honor Roll:  Ryan Rothenbuler - UF, Scott Monterastelli - HC, Jordan Snider - NU, Ryan Longstreth - SV, Eric Ludrowsky - TU, Justin Mazur - WS.

2009 GLIAC Baseball Pitchers of the Week:  (3/19) D. Richard - GV; (3/23) A. Benjamin - GV.

-- GLIAC Baseball Weekly Notes --

Ashland - The Eagles went 2-2 this past week to put their record at 17-7 and 2-1 in the GLIAC. The Eagles started out the week this past Tuesday against Kent State, losing, 16-10. Senior Jeff Foltz tied an AU single-game record with six hits, going 6-for-6 against the Golden Flashes. He tied the single-game record of six safeties established by Gaylord Meininger in 1962. Meininger’s six hits came against Wilmington. Ashland then hosted Wayne State for two games on Saturday (Mar. 21) and one game on Sunday (Mar. 22). AU swept the double header, winning the games, 11-8 and 6-5. The Eagles struggled on Sunday, losing, 8-1. On Saturday, AU used a come from behind effort in its first game, scoring seven runs in an inning to earn the victory. Ashland won with home runs by Eric Pirtz and Ryan Avery. The second game included last at bat heroics by junior Ben Minard. Minard singled in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Eagles play again Wednesday (Mar. 25), hosting Grand Valley State for a double header at 1 p.m. Ashland then travels to Saginaw Valley State for a twin bill on Saturday (Mar. 28) at 1 p.m. And then finish off the series with the Cardinals on Sunday (Mar. 29) with one contest at 1 p.m.

Findlay - The University of Findlay baseball team was swept in a doubleheader on Thursday, March 19 against top ranked Grand Valley State University at Fifth Third Field in Findlay, Ohio. The two losses give the Oilers a 2-12 record on the season with a 0-2 mark in the GLIAC... In the first game, the Oilers were tied 2-2 in the seventh frame but gave up six runs to lose 8-2... Matt Weber (1-2) took the loss by allowing eight runs, only four earned, in seven innings of work... Alex Raymond went 2-for-2 while Brian Sampsel drove in a run and scored one as well... In the second game, Aaron Geis (0-3) was pinned with the loss after allowing six runs, only three earned, in four innings of work... Bobby Herberger went 2-for-2 with a run and a RBI while Kyle Wilson drove in two runs on one hit... Findlay split a pair of games on Saturday, March 21 against Saginaw Valley State University in University Center, Michigan. The Oilers lost the first game 4-2 and then won 10-7 in the second contest... In the first game, the Oilers were down 4-0 in the sixth inning before Dustin Zielaskiewicz grounded out to score Ross Guisinger who had singled earlier in the inning... The Oilers would then tack on another run in the seventh when Brian Sampsel hit a solo blast to center to make the score 4-2...Preston Zachrich took the loss by allowing four runs, only one earned, on eight hits in five innings of work... In the second game, the Oilers scored all ten of their runs in the first three innings and held on in the end to pick up the victory...Guisinger led the way by going 2-for-4 with a homerun and four runs batted in... Bryce Whittington picked up the victory after allowing seven runs on 13 hits in 6.2 innings of work... Saginaw Valley scored three runs in the second inning, and three in the seventh and eighth to cruise to a 9-1 victory over The University of Findlay baseball team on Sunday, March 22. The loss gives the Oilers a 3-14 record overall and a 1-4 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) on the season... Findlay will play Bowling Green State University Tuesday March 24th beginning at 3:00 p.m.

Grand Valley State - Grand Valley State is ranked #1 in the lastest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll for the first time in school history. GVSU was ranked #2 in DII Coaches’ Poll and fourth in the Ping Collegiate Baseball poll...The Lakers’ 21-2 record to open a season is its best start in school history...Grand Valley State will play at #12 Ashland in a key GLIAC doubleheader Wednesday (March 25)...Andre Benjamin (Grand Ledge, Mich.) upped hist record to 14-1 in his career, while fellow starter, Danny Richard (West Bloomfield, Mich.), is 13-1 in his career...GVSU’s pitchers have recorded 178 strikeouts and walked just 55, while Laker hitters have struckout 93 times and walked 92 times. Opponents are hitting .206 versus Laker pitching in 2009.

Hillsdale - The Hillsdale College baseball team opened at home over the weekend, hosting number one-ranked Grand Valley State…The Chargers lost all three games to the Lakers, by scores of 9-4, 5-0 and 7-3…Hillsdale plays at home in each of the last two weekends in March…The team had seven hits in Sunday’s game, its third-highest total of the season, and the Chargers scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the ninth inning…Among the many players making their home collegiate debuts this weekend was outfielder Mike Blanchard, who also plays for Hillsdale College’s football team…Blanchard led Hillsdale High School to a Division III state championship in 2007…Another former state champion, freshman Brandon Riggsbee, made his home debut, playing in two of the three games this weekend…Riggsbee was also part of a state champion team in 2007, playing at Lake Orion High School…Hillsdale travels to Saginaw Valley State Wednesday, then hosts Northwood University for a three-game weekend series March 28-29.

Northwood - Northwood went 3-2 last week, dropping a pair of one-run games at Wayne State before coming home and sweeping Tiffin in a three-game series … Northwood is now 9-7 overall, 3-2 in the GLIAC … the weekend sweep was the first for Northwood in GLIAC play since the 2000 season when the Timberwolves swept both Gannon and Westminster … pitching was the key to the weekend sweep for the Timberwolves … Northwood finished the weekend series with a 1.96 ERA, allowing the Dragons to finish with a .186 batting average while scoring a total of six runs in three games … all three Northwood starting pitchers had a quality start against the Dragons – all three lasted at least 5 1/3 innings and gave up two or fewer runs … Adam Rider (Midland, Mich./Bullock Creek) had a strong weekend for the Timberwolves … he batted .556 against Tiffin with a pair of doubles and three RBI’s … in the series finale against Tiffin, Northwood trailed 3-1 with two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the ninth, but rallied for three runs to earn the win … Northwood will travel to Findlay and Hillsdale this week in GLIAC action.

Saginaw Valley State - The Saginaw Valley State baseball team started the week off a little rocky, falling to Tiffin University on March 18 in both games, but rallied to finish the week winning two of their next three games against the University of Findlay on March 21 and March 22. In the first game against the Oilers, the Cardinals won, 4-2 on the strong pitching performance of junior Andrew Doyle (Grand Blanc, Mich.) who pitched six innings, and allowed one run on five hits with eight strike outs before exiting the game. Sophomore Dustin Mayner (Gaines, Mich.) had a strong game in the batter’s box going 2-for-3, as did junior Josh Peterson (Midland, Mich.), who hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. In Game 2, the Cardinals out-hit the Oilers 13 to 9, but couldn’t overcome an early onslaught from Findlay, as the Oilers scored all of their runs in the first three innings, before the Cardinal defense buckled down to shut out Findlay for the rest of the game. The Cardinals did manage a come back in the bottom of the seventh inning as they were able to put four runs on the scoreboard, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the early runs Findlay scored, and fell 10-7. However, on Sunday, the Cardinals came out swinging hard, and won a decisive game, 9-1 over Findlay to give the Cards an early advantage in the season series, 2-1. Making his GLIAC start, freshman pitcher Ryan Longstreth (Beaverton, Mich.) threw a five-hit, one-run gem for the Cardinals. Junior Charlie Thomas went 4-for-5 with four singles and one run scored, while Peterson went 3-for-5 with three singles and one RBI. The Cardinals look to take the momentum from Sunday’s win into play this week, as they will take on visiting Hillsdale College in a double-header on Wednesday (March 25), and then take on Ashland University for three games at the SVSU Sports Complex.

Tiffin - TU went 2-3 for the week, opening with two solid wins against Saginaw Valley State before dropping three on the road at Northwood…Ty Blake led the offense with a .353 clip with a double and team high 4 RBI…Devin Rudolph and Colin Lowe also hit well, both posting .333 averages. Lowe also had 2 doubles…Bobby Mullin hit .312 with 3 doubles…Pat Curtin hit .294 and Val Helldobler batted .286…The Dragons pitching staff posted a 4.17 ERA for the week, but the offense hit just .256 in support.

Wayne State - After a lopsided 20-3 loss at Toledo on Tuesday, the Warriors rebounded to win three of their first five conference games last week … Wayne State is 7-3 in its last 10 GLIAC openers after earning a 7-6 win in Wednesday’s first game against Northwood … the Warriors are 63-34 against the Timberwolves, and have won six straight and 12 of the last 13 versus NU … in Saturday’s opener, despite 12 hits including three from Matthew Williams (Detroit, Mich./Royal Oak Shrine), Ashland scored the final nine runs in an 11-8 WSU loss … Alex Trojan (Fenton, Mich./Hartland) hit his first career home run in Saturday’s second game, a 6-5 setback … Sunday’s seven-run win marked WSU’s highest margin of victory versus AU since 2004 … Michael Wiseman (White Lake, Mich./Lakeland) led WSU with a .588 batting average last week … Justin Mazur (Macomb, Mich./De La Salle) won both of his starts, including a 6.1 inning performance Sunday in which he struck out a career-high seven … Ryan LaPensee (LaSalle, Ont./St. Thomas of Villanova) has a nine-game hitting streak, longest by any Warrior this season ... he is batting .429 (15-35) with 10 RBI and 10 runs scored during the streak … Wayne State will play a conference doubleheader Wednesday afternoon at Tiffin before hosting Findlay for a three-game series next weekend, March 28-29.