The Grand Valley State University Lakers baseball team played a three-game series against the Seton Hill University Griffins, including a doubleheader on Saturday, March 16. The Lakers had a rough time in the series as they lost all three games.
For the first game on Friday, March 15, GVSU really struggled to get any sort of momentum going. The Lakers struggled offensively, but the pitching of GVSU senior Nick Rutkowski held Seton Hill to just one run through the first four innings of play.
Then the Griffins heated up in the hitting department. They scored five runs in the next four innings, making the score 6-0, which was ultimately the final score. The Lakers had one hit for the entire game, GVSU designated hitter Macarthur Graybill had a single.
“They didn’t give you anything, you had to earn everything,” said GVSU head coach Jordan Keur.
The doubleheader on Saturday was a much better showing from GVSU, but still resulted in a tough 6-2 loss and a 7-3 loss.
In both games Seton Hill came out hot, scoring three runs in the first three innings of each game. However, GVSU would answer in the top of the fourth when Graybill capitalized on a wild pitch and took home plate. The Griffins then got another runner home in the bottom of the fourth inning to make the score 4-1 going into the fifth inning.
The Lakers would go scoreless for the next three innings, while Seton Hill added another run in the bottom of the fifth.
GVSU was able to score after the drought with back-to-back doubles from senior right fielder Nathan Logan and senior shortstop Connor Schuman. Logan scored on Shuman’s double to make the score 5-2.
In the eighth inning, Seton Hill would go on to add another run and GVSU would fall 6-2 in game two of the series.
The finale of the series was a close one until the end. The Griffins once again started hot and scored three runs in just the first inning.
GVSU did not get on the board in the first, but the Lakers had an excellent top of the second, which resulted in two runs. Logan and Graybill were the scoring runs, once again making impact plays for their team.
Seton Hill would respond with three straight hits in the bottom of the second, which allowed another run to score for the Griffins. Although GVSU was down 4-2 going into the third, it was the best they looked all series.
Both teams went scoreless for the next four innings, until the bottom of the seventh, where the Griffins would get another runner home to make it 5-2. The Lakers weren’t done though as Connor Schuman would make it home on a sacrifice fly, making it just a two-run game going into the final two innings.
Seton Hill’s two-run eighth extended their lead to 7-3 and made a comeback that much tougher for the Lakers.
GVSU did not score in the ninth, getting swept in the series by Seton Hill. Keur had a lot of praise for Seton Hill and their program after the game.
“There’s a reason their coach has 700 wins,” Keur said. “They’re a very fundamentally sound team that does not hurt themselves. They don’t give you free bases and they don’t make mistakes.”
GVSU senior center fielder Kyle Nott remained optimistic after the tough series sweep.
“I thought it was a good growing series for us,” Nott said. “We struggled a bit in the beginning on the first day but came back today and competed, sometimes that’s just baseball.”
GVSU will now get a week to prepare for a doubleheader that begins Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference (GLIAC) play, starting with Saginaw State University on Saturday, March 23.
