GV's Gendron and AU's Hilt 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's senior second baseman Kyle Gendron (Dearborn, Mich./Divine Child) and Ashland University sophomore pitcher Aaron Hilt (Richmond, Ohio/Richmond Edison) have been chosen as the GLIAC Baseball  "Player of the Week" and "Pitcher of the Week," respectively it was announced by the league office.

GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week:
Kyle Gendron - Grand Valley State
6-2, Senior, 2B
Dearborn, Mich./Divine Child

Grand Valley State senior second baseman Kyle Gendron hit .545 (6-for-11) with nine RBIs, three runs scored and two walks in three games. Gendron collected three extra-base hits among his six hits for the week and tallied a 1.091 slugging percentage and a .615 on base percentage. Kyle raised his batting average 21 points to .424 for the year during the Lakers’ last three games. Gendron was 3-for-6 with six RBIs, a three-run triple and a two-run home run in game two, followed by a 3-for-4 outing in game three when he drove in three runs and scored a pair.

"Player of the Week" Honor Roll: Adam Rider - NU, Dustin Zielaskiewicz - UF,   Ben Minard - AU,  Scott Lantis - HC, Matt Hunt - SV, Paul LaMantia - WS

2010 Baseball "Players of the Week": (3/17) Michael Wiseman - WS; (3/22) Cody Grice - GV; (3/29) Devin Rudolph - TU; (4/5) Ryan Webber - SV; (4/12) Devin Rudolph - TU; (4/19) Ben Minard - AU; (4/26) Kyle Gendron - GV; (5/3) Kyle Gendron -GV.

GLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week:
Aaron Hilt - Ashland
6-4, Sophomore
Richmond, Ohio/Richmond Edison

Hilt had a career performance this past week.  The sophomore pitched a no-hitter in a 4-0 victory at Findlay.  It is the first no-hitter for the Eagles since the 1994 season.  In the game, he struck out 10 compared to only two walks.  He also has a 16-inning scoreless streak as he has not allowed a run since Apr. 14.  Hilt has four wins and two shutouts in his 11 appearances this season.

"Pitcher of the Week" Honor Roll: Troy Balduf- UF,  Joe Jablonski- GV, Matt Toporski - NU, Colin Coulter - SV, Brady Cooper - WS

2010 "Pitchers of the Week": (3/17) Justin Mazur - WS; (3/22) Cory Rademacher - GV; (3/29) Pat Curtin - TU; (4/5) Kyle Schepel - GV; (4/12) Austin Ritson - AU; (4/19) Brady Cooper -WS; (4/26) Carson Beauchaine - SV; (5/3) Aaron Hilt - AU.

Ashland Eagles (33-18, 21-12 GLIAC)

The Eagles had an almost perfect week as they went 6-1 to improve to 33-18 overall and 21-12 in the GLIAC.  Ashland beat two non-conference foes (Mount Vernon Nazarene and Lake Erie), took two out of three from Findlay and swept two against Tiffin. Aaron Hilt had a career performance this past week.  The sophomore pitched a no-hitter in a 4-0 victory at Findlay.  It is the first no-hitter for the Eagles since the 1994 season. In the game, he struck out 10 compared to only two walks. He also has a 16-inning scoreless streak as he has not allowed a run since Apr. 14. Hilt has four wins and two shutouts in his 11 appearances this season. Senior Ben Minard led the offense. In seven games, he batted .481 with seven runs scored, two doubles, three homers and nine RBI. The first baseman now has 13 home runs on the season and 32 in his career. His 32 career home runs ties him for second all-time on AU’s home run list.  He leads the conference in both home runs and RBI (64). Senior Jacob Petkac also had a strong week as he is now the Eagles all-time hits leader.  In his career, he has tallied 262 hits, breaking the previous mark of Brandon Cornell (255).  Ashland plays at the GLIAC tournament this week with its first game against Grand Valley State.

Findlay Oilers (15-34, 7-27 GLIAC)

The Oilers completed their season with a 15-34 record. Dustin Zielaskiewicz went on a tear in the final five games, hitting .643 with nine runs and six runs-batted-in. On the season, Zielaskiewicz hit a team-high .366 with 27 runs-batted-in. He also had 31 runs scored to go along with 15 extra base hits and ten stolen bases. His five triples this season put him in a tie for first in the Oilers single season record book. Jason Reitenbach also had a good year, hitting .299 with 44 runs scored, 11 doubles, 4 homeruns, 25 runs-batted-in and 22 stolen bases.

Grand Valley State Lakers (33-12, 23-9 GLIAC)

Grand Valley State will be making its eighth straight appearance in the GLIAC Tournament. The Lakers have won the last five GLIAC Tournaments and were the 2003 GLIAC Tournament co-champions in when weather forced the cancellation of the final game. Grand Valley State has won a GLIAC record 17 consecutive GLIAC Tournament baseball games dating back to 2003 tournament. GVSU senior pitcher Joe Jablonski (Temerence, Mich./Bedford) tossed his fifth complete game and second shutout in GLIAC action Saturday versus Wayne State. Jablonski tossed a 4-hit shutout with five strikeouts vs. the league-leading Warriors. Sophomore CF Cody Grice (DeWitt, Mich.) hit .489 (64-131) in GLIAC play with 14 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 49 runs scored and 30 RBI. Senior 2B Kyle Gendron (Dearborn, Mich./Divine Child) hit .462 (55-119) in GLIAC action with seven home runs, six doubles, two triples, 42 RBI and 28 runs scored. GVSU hit .383 with 54 doubles, 13 triples, 36 home runs and 269 runs in GLIAC play during the 2010 season. The Grand Valley State pitching staff tossed a league high 15 complete games and notched four shutouts. The Lakers tallied a 4.68 ERA.

Hillsdale Chargers (14-30, 11-22 GLIAC)

The Hillsdale College baseball team finished the regular season on a four-game winning streak, its longest of the season. Hillsdale’s three-game weekend sweep of Tiffin prevented the Dragons from making the GLIAC Tournament. The Chargers went 6-3 in their final nine games of the season. Sunday’s 14-7 win over Tiffin was head coach Paul Noce’s 300th of his coaching career. Noce is the second-longest tenured head coach on the Hillsdale College staff, having just completed his 17th season with the Chargers. Freshman Mike Vanchieri finished the season as Hillsdale’s leading batter, hitting .344 on the season. Five different players had 40 or more hits on the season. Vanchieri and junior Anthony Giarmo tied for the team lead with four home runs each. Freshman Scott Lantis had two or more hits in all three games of the sweep over Tiffin, and hit his second and third home runs of the season in the series. His two-run double was the game-winning hit in a 13-12 win over the Dragons Saturday. Hillsdale was 8-7 when it hit at least one home run in a game this season. There were no seniors on the Charger roster.

Northwood Timberwolves (23-26, 13-50 GLIAC)

Northwood finished its 2010 season by going 3-3 the final week of the year. Northwood finished the year 23-26 overall. Junior first baseman Brett Lechner (Midland, Mich.) finished the season with 70 hits, one short of the Northwood record for hits by a player in a season.  Lechner’s .409 batting average is also the seventh-highest in school history. This year’s Northwood offense will go down as one of the best in school history, finishing among the all-time NU leaders in hits (first - 493), extra base hits (first - 145), doubles (first - 100), triples (first - 23), total bases (first - 703), batting average (second - .323) and slugging (second - .461). In the final week of the season, Zach Lecker (Saginaw, Mich./MLS) and Adam Rider (Midland, Mich./Bullock Creek) led the way for the Timberwolves. Lecker batted .500 for the week, finishing with seven hits and a .682 on-base percentage. Rider batted .417 with a home run and six RBI’s. Jordan Snider (Bay City, Mich./John Glenn) struck out 10 in seven innings in a win over Alma Tuesday. Matt Toporski (Essexville, Mich./Garber) did not earn a win, but pitched well against SVSU allowing two runs in eight innings of work. NU will lose 10 seniors.

Saginaw Valley State Cardinals (20-21, 16-15 GLIAC)

The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team posted a 3-2 week, splitting a mid-week doubleheader against Wednesday before taking two-of-three from Northwood University over the weekend.  The last contest of the GLIAC regular season, a 5-1 victory at Northwood University, sealed the number four seed in the 2010 GLIAC Tournament for the Cardinals.  It ends a two year absence in the tournament, as their last visit came in the 2007 season.  SVSU will host Rochester College for a Monday doubleheader at 1:00 pm before squaring-off against #1 seed Wayne State University on Thursday at 3:00 pm in the first round of the GLIAC Tournament, which is being held at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Tiffin Dragons (21-33, 17-18 GLIAC)

TU continued to hit well, batting .357 as a team but struggling defensively in a 0-5 week that kept them from qualifying for the GLIAC tourney. Devin Rudolph continued to lead the nation with a .529 average, including a .615 week with 6 RBI in 3 games along with a 1.154 slugging pct. and a .615 OBP. Bobby Mullin hit .429 in 3 games while Corey Hornyak hit .409 over 5 games. Jason Ty Blake set a new single season TU record with 76 hits. Tiffin University fell in its last scheduled game of 2010 14-7 to Hillsdale, with errors once again spoiling a strong offensive outing. Colin Lowe had 3 hits with a double and home run for 3 RBI. Jason Bailey drilled a two-run home run. Tiffin University saw its playoff chances jeopardized by errors and unearned runs as they dropped two games on the road to Hillsdale 13-12 and 8-5. The Dragons allowed 6 unearned runs in game one, committing 5 errors in the field. Bobby Mullin and Pat Curtin had 3 hits each, while Jason Kulp and Colin Lowe had 2 hits each with 2 RBI. Lowe had a double and triple, while Mullin and Kulp also had doubles. Ty Blake had 2 hits with a home run for 3 RBI while Bailey and Curtin had 2 hits each. Tiffin University got poor starting pitching in both games at Ashland, falling 10-7 and 14-5. In the opener. TU had 12 hits but 10 were singles. Devin Rudolph had 4 hits with a double and home run for 4 RBI while Ty Blake had 2 hits.

Wayne State Warriors (29-18, 23-8 GLIAC)

Despite a 2-4 record in the final week of the regular season, Wayne State held on to first place in the GLIAC, clinching the regular-season title with Saturday’s 14-11 win at Grand Valley State.  This year marks WSU’s second first-place finish in the last three years and its third in the last six.  Paul LaMantia led three Warriors who hit over .400 last week, finishing 13-for-25 (.520) with seven RBI and seven runs scored.  Michael Wiseman hit .421 with a pair of homers and a .522 on-base percentage, and Andrew Ciennik went 9-for-22 (.409) for the week.  Ryan LaPensee had five doubles and set WSU records for single-season hits and career doubles.  Brady Cooper earned his third consecutive complete game win Wednesday at SVSU, scattering 10 hits and allowing one earned run in the 9-4 victory.  The Warriors will meet the Cardinals in the opening round of the GLIAC Tournament on Thursday at 3:00 p.m.