May 15, 2006

Allendale, Mich. - #3 Grand Valley State has been selected as the #1 seed and host for the 2006 NCAA DII North Central Regional baseball tournament. The North Central Regional will begin Thursday (May 18) with three games and run through Sunday (May 21). All games will be played at the GVSU Baseball Field on the campus of Grand Valley State.

#1 Grand Valley State will open the tourney Thursday (May 18) at 10 a.m. versus #6 Rockhurst (35-20). #2 Northern Kentucky (42-18-1) will square off against #5 Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (38-17-1) at 1 p.m., with the final game of the day pitting #3 Quincy (39-18) against #4 Ashland (42-14) at 4 p.m.

GVSU will be making its seventh straight NCAA DII National Tournament appearance, including five straight dating back to the 2002 season. The Lakers are 10-2 in their last three North Central Regional appearances, all of which ended with the Lakers advancing to the NCAA DII World Series. GVSU is 11-8 all-time in NCAA DII Regional action.

Grand Valley State is led by both a balanced pitching staff and a balanced lineup of positional players. A senior laden pitching staff leads the way for the Lakers on the hill with a combined 37-3 record this season. Jeremy Dow (12-0/2.51 ERA), Grant Payton (11-0/2.39 ERA), Jeff Sinicki (7-2/5.20 ERA) and Nate McCrory (7-1/3.51 ERA) have been stellar on the mound. The Lakers boast a .357 team batting average and seven players that have between 51 and 72 hits. In addition, four players have between 39 and 52 RBIs. 3B Lee VanStrain is hitting .459 with 61 hits and 39 RBIs. GLIAC Freshman of the Year, 1B Casey Robrahn, is hitting .415 with 66 hits, while 2B Spud McKenzie is hitting .395 with 64 hits, 49 RBIs and 42 runs scored. C Nick Smith leads the Lakers with 12 home runs and 52 RBIs and is hitting .392. CF Jeff Carerro leads GVSU with 72 hits and 15 doubles, while driving in 51 runs. Careero has also scored 52 runs. SS Dan Skirka leads GVSU in runs scored (54), while hitting .323. RF Nick Sandy, who is appearing in his 4th NCAA North Central Regional with the Lakers, has driven in 47 runs, scored 48 and is hitting .309.

Day 1 - Thursday, May 18

Game 1 -10 am = # 1 GVSU vs. # 6 Rockhurst

Game 2 - 1:00 pm = # 2 Northern Kentucky vs. # 5 SIUE

Game 3 -4:00 pm = # 3 Quincy vs. # 4 Ashland

Day 2 - Friday, May 19

Game 4 - 10:00 am = Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2

Game 5 - 1:00 pm = Winner of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 3

Game 6 - 4:00 pm = Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 1

Day 3 - Saturday, May 20

Game 7 - 10:00 am = Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6

Game 8 - 1:00 pm = Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 6

Game 9 - 4:00 pm = Winner of Game 8 vs. Loser of Game 7

Day 4 - Sunday, May 21

Game 10 - 12:00 noon = Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 9

Game 11 - If necessary Game * minimum of 30 minutes after Game 10

Ticket Price Details

General Admission $5.00 a session

Students and Seniors

& children under 16 $3.00 a session

In related GVSU Baseball News

Grand Valley State landed 10 players on the All-GLIAC team, including eight who earned first-team honors. Senior Jeremy Dow (Sunfield, Mich./Lakewood) was named the GLIAC Pitcher of the Year after posting a 12-0 record with a 2.51 ERA while striking out 84 on the year. Dow is the third consecutive Laker to earn the award after Grant Payton won the award in 2005 and Matt Rafeld in 2004. Casey Robrahn (Jenison, Mich.) was named Freshman of the Year after hitting .415 with 33 runs scored and 34 RBIs and also held a school-record 29 game hitting streak during the season. Robrahn is the second Laker to win the award after former Laker great Scott Allen was tabbed the Freshman of the Year in 2002. GVSU captured the GLIAC regular season title and will enter the North Central Regional as the #1 seed after posting a 44-8 overall record.

Dow threw 82.1 innings on the season and held batters to a .231 average. The 12 wins that Dow racked up on the season ties him for first in the single-season Laker annals with Rafeld who won 12 games in 2004. Dow ranks fourth in career strikeouts for the Lakers with 172 in his two years at Grand Valley State. The senior hurler is 18 strikeouts away from breaking the career total of former Laker standout Phil Mixter, who rung up 189 batters.

Robrahn set a number of Laker freshman records on the season as he tallied a record 66 hits to go with an average of .415. The freshman first baseman recorded a hit in 43 of the 49 games he played on the season. Robrahn ripped a hit in 29 consecutive games during the season from March 29 to May 6. Casey tallied two or more hits in 19 games, which tied for second on the squad.

Joining Dow and Robrahn on the first team were C Nick Smith (Hazel Park, Mich.), 3B Lee VanStreain (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central), 2B Spud McKenzie (Wymoing, Mich./Grand Rapids C.C.), CF Jeff Carrero (Frankfort, Ill./South Suburban C.C.), starting pitcher Grant Payton (Barrington, Ill./Illinois Valley C.C.), and relief pitcher Dave Bowman (Rochester Hills, Mich./Brother Rice). Seniors RF Nick Sandy (Lansing, Mich./Grand Ledge) and starting pitcher Jeff Sinicki (Essexville, Mich./Garber) were also named to the All-GLIAC team earning honorable mention plaudits.