Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 At this stage of the college baseball season, every series is big when you are a team in contention for a conference championship and an NCAA regional playoff berth. Sometimes, however, it's the small details that lead to big celebrations.
With every start this season, AU sophomore right-hander Jake Baldwin (Madison Heights, Mich./Lamphere) has made progress. Sometimes, it was just a small thing. But now, in the season's latter stages, Baldwin is emerging as a big-time pitcher.
That point was driven home again on Saturday (Apr. 27) at Grand Valley State where Baldwin pitched a four-hit shutout to beat the Lakers, 1-0. His effort comes after AU lost 11-6 at Findlay.
In the second game on Saturday, the Lakers (23-13/17-6 GLIAC) prevailed, 10-5. The teams will play a nine-inning game on Sunday.
Baldwin faced 25 batters and threw 66 of his 98 pitches for strikes. He didn't walk a batter and struck out six. The sophomore is 5-0. This was his third complete game of the season and the third shutout he's pitched on his own. He's also been involved in one shared shutout. This was Baldwin's third consecutive complete game shutout and the fourth consecutive start where he didn't allow a run. The last time Baldwin started and let a run cross home plate was on Mar. 29 at Walsh.
The Eagles (28-14/16-10 GLIAC) didn't have a lot of offense in this game – they managed five hits off of GVSU's Kyle Teague (5-1). The only run in the game scored in the fourth inning on a single up the middle by Alex Sortwell (San Mateo, Calif./Canada College).
All of AU's hits came from three players. In addition to that hit by Sortwell, designated hitter Mackenzie Hampshire (Delphos, Ohio/Elida) and first baseman Tyler Gray (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) had two hits each.
In the second game, the Lakers grabbed a 3-1 first inning lead and extended that to 5-1 after two innings. The Eagles battled back and were down, 5-4 when the Lakers scored five times in the bottom of the fifth inning. AU couldn't recover from that salvo.
The Lakers got homers from Kevin Zak and Giancarlo Brugnoni and Stephen Claypool was 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Right fielder Chris Rudenga was 3-for-4.
Gray went 3-for-3 and belted his first homer of the season. He drove in three runs. Sortwell was 2-for-4.
Zach Botjer (Deshler, Ohio/Sinclair C.C.) took the loss. He lasted 3.2 innings and allowed five runs on eight hits. Botjer walked four and struck out one. He was the first of four AU pitchers.
Patrick Kelly, a redshirt freshman right-hander, got the win. He went 4.1 innings and permitted four runs (three earned) on eight hits. Lefty Brad Zambron worked the final 2.2 innings and earned his eighth save. The Eagles got to him for a run on four hits.
