Grand Valley State has felt quite at home over the past few weeks and the Lakers again played well on their home field on Saturday afternoon (Apr. 11), earning a sweep over Ohio Dominican. GVSU plated two late runs to nab a 5-4 victory in the opener before capping the sweep with a 7-1 win in game two.

The recipe remained the same for the Lakers: strong pitching, solid defense, and timely hitting led to two more victories. Grand Valley State improves to 25-7 on the season and 11-2 in GLIAC play. With Walsh dropping a pair of games at Wayne State on Saturday, the Lakers move into first place in the GLIAC standings. Ohio Dominican, the conference champions last year, fall to 7-27 overall and just 3-9 in league play.

GVSU sits one win ahead of Tiffin (10-2) and two victories in front of Wayne State (9-2) atop the conference standings. The Lakers will face Tiffin at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday (Apr. 12) in Allendale. Senior Sarah Wyse - the team's lone senior - will be honored prior to the start of Sunday's twinbill.

Saturday's sweep marks seven straight victories for GVSU and nine wins in the last 10 games, all of which have come at home during this unusually large 14-game homestand. 

Both Laker righthanders on Saturday got the job done. Junior Sara Andrasik allowed two first-inning runs in the opener, but only two more the rest of the way to improve to 8-4 on the season. In game two, freshman Courtney Reinhold gave up just one run on five hits to move to 10-2 in her rookie campaign.

One oddity in Reinhold's statline: despite throwing all seven innings, the freshman did not record a strikeout. She recorded 11 outs in the air and eight on the ground - plus two Laker double plays. The last time a GVSU pitcher won a game in which she tossed all seven innings, yet did not tally a strikeout was Hannah Santora in a 5-3 win over Lewis in Clermont, Fla. on  Mar. 5, 2013.

A two-run single in the top of the first inning gave ODU a 2-0 lead in the opener. Sophomore Jenna Lenza's RBI double in the home half of the first scored freshman Teagan Shomin to cut the deficit in half. In the second inning, sophomore Mari Deppe notched a two-out single and raced around on classmate Janae Langs' RBI triple, which tied the game at 2-2.

Both teams tallied a run in the third inning, as sophomore Kelsey Dominguez came around to score on a single from junior McKenze Supernaw and a misplay by the Panther outfielder. 

The score would remain knotted at 3-3 until the fifth inning. Shomin led off with a single up the middle, which was followed by a stolen base. Dominguez then notched her 10th double of the season, easily scoring Shomin to put GVSU on top for the first time in the game. The lead grew to 5-3 when Dominguez scored on a fielding error by ODU.

Andrasik allowed a harmless two-out single in the sixth inning and although Ohio Dominican made things interesting with a two-out solo homer in the seventh, she came back to strike out the final batter of the contest. The righty gave up four runs on seven hits, while walking four and fanning five Panthers.

Shomin and Dominguez both scored twice, while Dominguez added two hits and an RBI. Supernaw also went 2-for-3 for the Lakers, who did not commit an error behind Andrasik.

In game two, after Reinhold secured the first two outs, three straight ODU batters reached base, including an RBI single to put the Panthers ahead, 1-0. That is the only time Ohio Dominican would score off Reinhold in the contest.

Grand Valley State quickly responded with four runs in the top of the second inning. Freshman Kaylie Rhynard laid down a perfect bunt single and was brought all the way around from first base on an RBI double from classmate Heather Sperlazzo. Junior Chelsea Horvath followed with a run-scoring single to bring Sperlazzo across the plate for the 2-1 lead. 

Later in the inning, with runners on second and third, Dominguez put down a great suicide squeeze bunt that scored Horvath. However, the throw to first base was off target and not only was Dominguez safe, but Langs came around to score on the miscue. GVSU was up 4-1.

Reinhold would not need much more offense, but did get some help from her defense. With one out and one on in the third inning, ODU's Taylor Thomas ripped a shot to left field. Dominguez snared the liner and threw a perfect strike to Sperlazzo at first base to double off the Panther runner and end the frame. 

From there, Reinhold went 1-2-3 in both the fourth and fifth innings. The Lakers plated three insurance runs in the sixth inning. Sophomore Ellie Balbach brought in the first run with a sacrifice fly, Rhynard tallied a run-scoring single, and Sperlazzo drove in her second run of the day with a single.

Reinhold went 1-2-3 again in the seventh inning to close the game. She walked two batters and threw only 83 pitches in the complete game victory.

Sperlazzo's 3-for-4 effort paced the Laker offense, as she drove in a pair of runs. Rhynard and Dominguez were both 2-for-4 with a run and a ribbie, while Langs went 2-for-4, stole two bases, and scored once.

After the Tiffin double-dip on Sunday, GVSU will be at home for the final time on Wednesday (Apr. 15) against Saginaw Valley State at 3:30 p.m.