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May 20, 2005
Rensselaer, Ind. - The Grand Valley State Lakers (33-14) advanced to the NCAA DII North Central Regional Championship game Friday afternoon with a 4-1 victory over top-seeded and host St. Joseph's College in a winners bracket contest. Grand Valley State, the two-time defending NCAA DII North Central Regional Champions, will play in their third straight regional championship Saturday afternoon.
Junior lefthanded pitcher Grant Payton tossed a gem of a game, yielding just one run and three hits in nine innings of work. The Pumas scored their lone run in the top of the ninth and 18 of the 27 outs were of the ground ball fashion. Payton retired the first 10 batters he faced and did not allow a base runner in four of nine innings pitched. Payton yielded three walks and struck out three as he improved to 9-3 on the year and lowered his ERA to 1.19.
The Lakers, who were retired in order the first four innings , were able to get their first base runner in the bottom of the fifth when sophomore catcher Nick Smith bunted for a hit. Nick Sandy followed with a sac bunt that the pitcher mishandled and reached first. Junior DH Drew Wippich singled to shortstop to load the bases and freshman left fielder Pat Radde plated the Lakers' first run when he reached on a fielders choice. Senior shortstop Ryan Lyster was hit by a pitch and senior second baseman Scott Smith singled to center to score Radde and Sandy to give the Lakers a 3-0 lead. That was all Payton needed in run support, but GVSU added an insurance run in the seventh when first baseman Chad Rohacs singled to lead off the inning. Wippich advanced Rohacs to second on a sac bunt and Radde moved Rohacs to third with a hard grounder to first. Lyster followed with an infield single to score Rohacs and give the Lakers a 4-0 lead.
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S. Smith was 1-4 with two RBIs, while Lyster was 1-2 with an RBI. McFarland, N. Smith, Rohacs and Wippich all reached base via a hit. The Lakers scored four runs on six hits with two errors, while St. Joseph's tallied one run on three hits and one error. GVSU improves to 22-7 in postseason play the last four years and have now won 18 of their last 23 games overall on the season.
