May 9, 2011

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BAY CITY, Mich. - Grand Valley State University senior infielder Cory Phillips (Normal, Ill) and Lake Erie College sophomore pitcher Adam Beach (Vermillion, Ohio) have been chosen as the GLIAC Baseball  "Player of the Week" and  "Pitcher of the Week", Respectively.

 

  

GLIAC Baseball Player of the Week:

 

 

Cory Phillips
Grand Valley State
5-9, Senior, INF
Normal, Ill.

Grand Valley State University senior infielder Cory Phillips hit .571 (8-14) in a six game sweep last week, scoring seven runs and collecting 10 total bases. He had a .714 slugging percentage and a .588 on-base percentage and was 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts. He had two doubles and three RBI. Phillips had a pair of 3-for-3, two-run, one-RBI games against Ohio Dominican as GVSU capped off a 45-3 (34-1) season.

Baseball Player Weekly Honor Roll:  Shane Herold - AU; Chris Stephens - HC; Jason Fracassa - NU; Austin Grate - OD: Michael Wiseman - WS.

2011 "Players of the Week":  (3/18) R. Rua - LE; (3/21) M. Wiseman - WS; (3/28) M. Wiseman - WS; (4/4) S. Anderson - GV; (4/11) E. Melendez - AU; (4/18) S. Anderson - GV; (4/25) C. Grice - GV; (5/2) C. Grice - GV; (5/9) C. Phillips.

 

GLIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Week:   

 

 

Adam Beach
Lake Erie
6-3, Sophomore, RHP
Vermillion, Ohio

Lake Erie sophomore pitcher Adam Beach tossed a complete-game one-hitter in a 2-1 win Saturday over Wayne State. He tied the school record for fewest hits allowed and matched his career-high with nine strikeouts. It was Beach’s second straight complete game and third of the season. His fifth career complete game evened his record to 4-4 this year. He allowed just three earned runs and four hits with 16 strikeouts in his final two starts of the season.

 

Baseball Pitcher Weekly Honor Roll:   Ajay Meyer - AU; Brad Zambron - GV; Brent Opland - HC; Andrew Thompson - NU;  Billy Hurley - WS.

2011 "Pitchers of the Week": (3/18) A. Meyer - AU; (3/21) M. Rustulka - WS; (3/28) J. Wedesky - WS; (4/4) R. Garman - GV; (4/11) A. Hilt - AU; (4/18) E. Hummel - SV; (4/25) A. Hilt - AU; (5/2) C. Beauchaine - SV; (5/9) A. Beach.

 

 

 Ashland Eagles

The Eagles were 3-1 last week hosting Hillsdale at Donges Field. AU swept Saturday’s twinbill, getting dominant starting pitching from Ajay Meyer and Eric Vaughan. Meyer tossed a one-hitter – the first of his career – in a 3-0 shutout of the Chargers in Saturday’s opener. It was his third shutout of the season and his 11th complete game. The 11 complete games set a school single-season record. He leads the GLIAC in strikeouts (94) and innings pitched (92) by wide margins. Vaughan allowed just two unearned runs in a complete game in the nightcap – a 5-2 win for the Eagles. The Eagles dropped Sunday’s opener 2-1, despite strong performance by right-hander Aaron Hilt. He worked seven innings and allowed just one earned run. He struck out six. AU won a thrilling 4-3 game in its regular season finale. Ryan Avery’s two-run triple in the fifth tied the game at 3-3 and Matt McAllester beat out an infield RBI single in the sixth to give AU a 4-3 lead. In the seventh, with runners on the corners and one out, HC’s Chris Stephens lifted a fly ball to left field. Scott Rhodes tried to score on a sacrifice fly, but was gunned down for a double play by Evan Melendez. Shayne Herold was 4-for-8 on the week with a double and two runs scored. Melendez, Wade Kaido and Tyler Gray all had three hits for the Eagles on the weekend. Ashland will play Wayne State in the first round of the GLIAC Tournament in Chillicothe, Ohio on Thursday.

 

Findlay Oilers

The University of Findlay went 1-3 against Northwood to finish off the season this past week. In the first game, the Oilers fell 2-1 as Ryan Rothenbuhler allowed two runs on six hits in six innings of work. Tommy Roush went 2-for-3 at the plate while Dylan Cintula drove in Findlay’s lone run in the second inning. Roush went 3-for-3 at the plate and drove in a run while David Cort registered two runs-batted-in. On the second day they Oilers split with Northwood winning one. In the first game, the Oilers scored two runs in each of the last four innings to come away with a 10-2 victory as Matt Weber pitched seven solid frames. Weber allowed six hits and gave up two runs while striking out five. In the second game, the Oilers fell 6-1 as Drew Hargrove was saddled with the loss after allowing six runs, only three earned, on nine hits in six innings of action.   During the 2011 season, the Oilers dropped 13, one-run games. Findlay ended the season with a 15-31-1 record with a 12-23 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).

 

Grand Valley State Lakers

#2 Grand Valley State capped off their regular season with a 45-3 record and a 34-1 mark in GLIAC play…GVSU is leading the country in winning percentage (.938) and is currently just behind the 2000 Savannah State team for the best winning percentage in single-season history in NCAA Division II baseball (.939, 46-3)…The Lakers tied and then broke the school record for a winning streak, as the team has currently won 25 straight games, besting a 21-game streak in 2006…Senior Cory Phillips hit .571 (8-14) on the week with a .588 on-base percentage and is hitting .607 (17-28) when he starts at second base this season…Sophomore Brad Zambron tied the single-season GVSU saves record by collecting his ninth save of the year on Saturday…Juniors Kyle Schepel and Steve Anderson were named Tino Martinez Award Semifinalists (D-II Player of the Year) by College Baseball Lineup…GVSU is the #1 seed in the GLIAC Tournament and will face #4 seed Saginaw Valley State on Thursday at 3 p.m. in the first round.

Hillsdale Chargers

The Hillsdale College baseball team finished up its season Sunday afternoon at Ashland University, going 1-3 vs. the Eagles in the final weekend series of 2011…Senior Brent Opland pitched a complete game in a 2-1 win over Ashland in Sunday’s first game, giving the Chargers their 15th win of the season, one more than in 2010…Despite having several senior starters, the Chargers’ top three hitters are all coming back in 2012…Scott Rhodes (.328), Matt Pochmara (.313) and Chris Stephens (.294) will all be back next season…Stephens was the team’s best power hitter, leading the team with 3 home runs…Senior Adam Connell led the team in eight offensive categories, and had a team-best 18 stolen bases…Connell finished the regular season tied for fourth in the GLIAC in stolen bases…As a team, Hillsdale finished 5th in the GLIAC in fielding percentage.

Lake Erie Storm

Lake Erie went just 1-5 last week to close out the season, despite the fact that five of the six games were decided by two runs or less.  The Storm finished the year with 21 overall victories, surpassing the previous school record of 18 wins in a season set last year... the lone win of the week came on Saturday in the opener against Wayne State.  Sophomore Adam Beach tossed a complete-game one-hitter in the 2-1 victory, matching his career high with nine strikeouts. It was his second straight complete game and third this season... it was the second one-hitter pitched by a Storm hurler this season... Beach allowed just three earned runs on four hits with 16 strikeouts in his last two starts (13 innings)... Ryan Rua (68), Brandon James (65) and Matt Toth (62) ended the season with the three highest individual hit totals in a single year in school history... James ended his career as the all-time LEC leader in 11 different categories including games, hits, average and stolen bases... the Storm set or tied 20 team and individual season records in 2011... Rua stole five bases in six games, running his season total to 19. He now holds the school single season mark for stolen bases and home runs.       

 

Northwood Timberwolves

Baseball went 3-3 to finish the season, dropping a doubleheader at No. 2 Grand Valley State before going 3-1 in a weekend series against Findlay … the Timberwolves finish the season 18-23 overall, 13-18 in the GLIAC to place fifth in the conference … NU played in a total of four one-run games last week, losing two at GVSU before winning a pair versus Findlay … Jason Fracassa (Sterling Height, Mich./Stevenson) finished his freshman season with a strong week at the plate, batting .700 with a home run and four RBI’s … he went 7-10 from the plate with two doubles … Andrew Thompson (Westland, Mich./EMU) had NU’s best start of the week, allowing one earned run in 5 2/3 innings of work to earn a win over Findlay … playing in his final game at Northwood, senior second baseman Michael Goodwin (Midland, Mich.) made his first appearance as a pitcher … he retired the final batter of the game to earn a save.

 

Ohio Dominican Panthers

The Panthers closed the 2011 season with a mark of 19-27 (16-19 GLIAC), which was good for fifth in their inaugural season in the conference…ODU swept Lake Erie in its home finale and lost four tight contests with No. 1/2 Grand Valley in the final weekend of the season… The Panthers lost the four games to GVSU by a combined six runs. The Lakers’ first 41 wins had come by an average of 6.5 runs per game…ODU’s staff allowed just 24 runs in the six games, highlighted by Sean Blackburn’s complete game win over Lake Erie where he allowed just two unearned runs and matched his season-high with six strikeouts. Blackburn finished with a 5-2 record and did not allow more than six hits in any of his 10 outings (seven starts) this year…Zane Miller picked up a save against Lake Erie and threw a complete game against GVSU, giving up just two earned runs…ODU’s offense was led by Bryan Rudolph, who batted .467 (7-for-15), while Austin Grate (.438, 7-for-16) and Felix Brown (.385, 5-for-13) also had good weeks at the plate.

Saginaw Valley State Cardinals

The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team swept the Tiffin University Dragons over the weekend and wrapped-up the #4 seed in the 2011 GLIAC Baseball Tournament.  Saginaw defeated the Dragons 5-2 and 2-0 on Saturday before winning Sunday’s games by scores of 4-3 and 5-3.  The Cardinals also defeated Rochester College on Monday by a score of 9-4.  SVSU’s record stands at 23-22 overall on the season and the Cardinals will open up tournament play Thursday against Grand Valley State University in a 3:00 pm match-up.

  Tiffin Dragons

With being swept at Saginaw Valley State over the weekend, Tiffin finishes the 2011 season 13-35 overall and 10-24 in the GLIAC…Jordan Chiero hit his only home run of the season in a 4-3 loss in the third game of the weekend against the Cardinals (5/8)…Tiffin scored the first runs of every game except the game where it was shutout in the second game Saturday…Pat Curtin led the Dragons from the plate with six singles in 14 at-bats with two runs scored…despite picking up a tough loss Saturday, Cory Hornyak led the Dragons on the mound, throwing seven innings and allowing only one earned run with nine strikeouts…Curtin led the team with a .384 batting average this season while Chris Pistorio went 4-4 on the mound.

Wayne State Warriors

Wayne State went 4-2 last week and clinched second place in the conference as well as its seventh GLIAC Tournament berth in the last eight years.  Michael Wiseman went 6-for-17 last week to lead the offense, while the starting pitchers produced four complete games.  Brett Shankin picked up his seventh win of the year on Saturday against Lake Erie, and Billy Hurley earned his seventh save in the series finale on Sunday.  The Warriors will face Ashland in the first round on Thursday, marking the fourth straight year the Warriors and Eagles will meet in the postseason.