Lake Erie's Rua and Ashland's Meyer Chosen As GLIAC Baseball "Player of the Week" and "Pitcher of the Week", Respectively

Click here for printer-friendly (PDF) version of release

BAY CITY, Mich. - Lake Erie College junior shortstop Ryan Rua  (Amherst, Ohio/Steele) and Ashland University senior pitcher Ajay Meyer (Hamler, Ohio/Owens CC) have been chosen as the GLIAC Baseball  "Player of the Week" and  "Pitcher of the Week", Respectively.

GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week:

Ryan Rua
Lake Erie
6-3, Junior SS
Amherst, Ohio/Steele

Junior shortstop Ryan Rua got off to a feverish start to the 2011 season as Lake Erie went 3-4on the week in Florida for its spring break trip. Rua batted .516 with a 1.287 OPS. He hit his first home run of the season, hit four doubles, scored seven runs, stole two bases, and drove in 14 while starting every game at shortstop for the Storm. Rua went 10-of-14 (.714) with runners in scoring position and 6-of-9 (.667) with two outs.

Baseball Player Weekly Honor Roll:  Matt McAllester - AU; Cody Grice - GV; Jamie McNeill - HC; Jake Labrecque - NU; JT Feldkamp - OD; Matt Hunt - SV; C.J. Maszal - WS.

2011 "Players of the Week":  (3/18) Ryan Rua - LE.

GLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week:   

Ajay Meyer
Ashland
6-6, Senior RHP
Hamler, Ohio/Owens CC

Senior Pitcher Ajay Meyer was excellent in his first two starts since the 2009 season after missing last season with an injury. Meyer tossed a seven-inning, three-hit shutout in the season opener against No. 10 Minnesota State-Mankato. He struck out six and walked just one in the 2-0 AU win. Meyer followed that with a nine-inning complete game win over Slippery Rock. He surrendered just one run on six hits and struck out a career-high 13.

Baseball Pitcher Weekly Honor Roll: Kyle Scheple - GV; Casey Ingle - NU; Alex Borgan - OD; Carson Beauchaine - SV; Brett Shankin - WS.

2011 "Pitchers of the Week":  (3/18) Ajay Meyer - AU.

 Ashland Eagles

The Eagles were 8-3 in their annual spring trip to Central Florida for the Russ Matt Invitational last week. The Eagles opened the trip by splitting a doubleheader against No. 10 Minnesota State-Mankato. AU followed that with six straight wins before dropping two of three to close the trip. Senior infielder Matt McAllester (Westlake, Ohio) hit .472 (17-for-36) on the trip with a 5.24 on-base percentage and .611 slugging percentage. All of those totals led the Eagles last week. He had four hits in a 9-5 loss to Stonehill on March 12 and was 3-for-4 with a triple, two runs and a stolen base against West Virginia Wesleyan in a 16-9 win over West Virginia Wesleyan on March 8. Senior pitcher Ajay Meyer (Halmer, Ohio/Owens CC) was outstanding in two starts, posting a 0.56 ERA. He struck out 19 in 16 innings pitched, including a nine-inning complete game against Slippery Rock in which he struck out a career-high 13. He allowed just one run on the trip. The Eagles hit .337 as a team and had a team ERA of just 2.88. Sophomore Brad Thomas (Orrville, Ohio) was 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA in three appearances (two starts).

Findlay Oilers

The Oilers kicked of the 2011 baseball season in Winterhaven Florida with a 2-6 record. The two wins came against Northern State and Wheeling Jesuit. Findlay heads back to Ohio with a .332 batting average and a team earned run average of 4.94. The Oilers next play a double header at St. Joseph’s on March 23 with the first game starting at 2:00 pm.

Grand Valley State Lakers

#4 Grand Valley State has begun the season 11-2, including a 3-1 mark against opponents ranked in the top 15. Senior Joe Jablonski (Temperence, Mich./Bedford) tied the career wins record at GVSU by notching his 21st career victory on March 3rd against Mary when he went seven innings, allowing four hits and one run while striking out eight. Jablonski has yet to allow a base on balls this season in 20 innings pitched, but has struck out 20 batters. Senior Paul Young (London, Ont.) had the biggest play of the season so far for the Lakers, hitting a pinch-hit, two-out, two-strike, game-tying two-run inside the park homer in the bottom of the seventh against #11 West Chester to help GVSU to a 3-2 extra inning victory. He’s hitting .342 this year and is tied for the team lead with 11 RBI while leading the team in slugging percentage with a .579 mark. Junior Steve Anderson (Northville, Mich.) is leading the team with two homers and 24 total bases to go with 10 RBI, while senior Dan Ponegalek (Bridgman, Mich.) is leading the team with a .381 (8-21) batting average this season.

Hillsdale Chargers

The Hillsdale College baseball team lost all three games at the University of Indianapolis in a non-league weekend series Friday and Saturday…Hillsdale is 2-8 through 10 games this season…This weekend, the Chargers will head to northern California for its Spring Break trip, and will take on teams throughout that region…Three players have started all 10 games in the season thus far, infielders Scott Lantis and Adam Connell and outfielder Jeff Scarpelli…Scarpelli leads the team with nine hits and seven walks, while Connell has 11 stolen bases, 10 runs scored and nine hits for the Chargers…Redshirt-freshman Scott Rhodes hasn’t allowed a run in his first two career appearances on the mound.

Lake Erie Storm

Lake Erie opened up its season 3-4 during its Spring Break trip to Florida.  The Storm opened with true road games at Flagler and St. Leo, going 0-3 before winning three of its final four games of the week at the Winning Inning Clearwater Invitational.  Lake Erie picked up a 16-14 win over Oakland City, overcoming an eight-run deficit, defeated Ceaderville, 13-8, and took down Lockhaven, 12-7.  Lake Erie batted .343 as a team, with juniors Ryan Rua, Matt Toth and Brayan Cacique all hitting at least .500 individually, and scored 8.9 runs per game for the week.  

 

Northwood Timberwolves

Northwood opened its 2011 season by going 5-3 on their trip to Florida … the Timberwolves pitched extremely well on the trip overall, finishing with a 3.33 team ERA … in their five victories, Northwood allowed three earned runs in 43 innings of work, good for a 0.63 ERA … in those five games, NU starters registered three complete games … Casey Ingle (Pinconning, Mich./CMU) posted a 0.00 ERA on the trip, allowing three unearned runs in 10 2/3 innings of work despite not earning a victory on the trip … junior outfielder Jake Labrecque (Battle Creek, Mich./KCC) led the way for the Northwood offense, batting .419 with seven RBI’s … Brett Lechner (Midland, Mich./Dow) led the team with nine RBI’s on trip, while Jake Oard (Beaverton, Mich./SVSU) led NU with 11 runs scored … the Timberwolves return to action March 22 at Rochester … the doubleheader gets under way at 2 p.m.

Ohio Dominican Panthers

The Panthers have played five straight games against ranked opponents, knocking off  #1 Georgia College 11-3 before falling in two game sets to #30 Columbus State and #26 Northern Kentucky…The Panthers have scuffled at the plate in their opening eight games, hitting .219 as a team with six extra base hits, but have received several strong performances on the mound, led by sophomore Alex Borgan and freshman Sean Blackburn…Borgan is 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA in three starts, including a victory over Georgia College, working seven innings of one-run baseball…Blackburn is 0-1 but hurled eight innings of no-hit baseball, yielding one unearned run, against Columbus State…Zack Dascenzo leads the offense with six hits in 15 at bats (.400), including a double and triple, while JT Feldkamp has hit in six straight and is batting .346 with three RBI. Bobby Franks and Tyler Zaidel lead the team with five RBI and Germaine McAlpine has four steals…The Panthers committed just seven errors and tallied a .973 fielding percentage.

Saginaw Valley State Cardinals

The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team went 4-7 on its annual Spring trip to Florida at the Russ Matt Invitational.  The Cardinals had some solid performances on the trip, as Matt Hunt hit .370 while walking eight times and scoring six runs and five RBI’s.  Brandon Schwanz posted a .310 batting average on the week with six RBI’s.  Kyle O’Boyle hit .303 with a pair of home runs and 10 RBI’s.  Carson Beauchaine posted a 1-1 record on the mound in a pair of starts with a 0.75 ERA and 14 strikeouts.  Mike Saunders also posted a 1-1 mark with a 2.70 ERA and eight strikeouts.  Justin Drzewicki was 2-for-2 in save situations on the trip, not allowing a run.  The Cardinals will be back in action March 26-27, as they open GLIAC play at home against Hillsdale College.

  Tiffin Dragons

Tiffin has started the season 2-10 and has held leads in all but two losses this year…Carlos Garcia leads the team with a .375 batting average with 15 hits in 40 at-bats, seven of which have been doubles…Pat Curtin, while 1-2 this year for the Dragons, has been the most consistent on the mound, having thrown 23.2 innings and only allowed 10 runs for a 3.80 ERA.

Wayne State Warriors

After opening the 2011 season with a 2-2 record at the Armstrong Atlantic Invitational, Wayne State is 4-2 in its first six games in the state of Florida.  The Warriors won four in a row, including a sweep over Minnesota-Duluth on Monday, before a 6-2 setback at #14 Tampa on Tuesday.  Junior 3B Alex Trojan leads the team with a .452 average, 14 hits and 13 RBI, while junior outfielder C.J. Maszal is hitting .382 and has reached base safely in all 10 games.  Junior outfielder Kyle Vesey is batting .387 with eight runs scored.  The WSU pitching staff has a 3.26 ERA this season, led by senior Tyler Loehr who despite two one-run losses has a 1.37 ERA and 12 strikeouts in three appearances.  Senior Brett Shankin won his first two starts of the year, including a two-hit, 1-0 shutout last Friday against Mansfield.  Wayne State wraps up its Florida trip Wednesday against Kentucky Wesleyan and Minnesota-Crookston.