GVSU baseball No. 15 in early NCBWA poll

The Grand Valley State baseball team is racking up its share of preseason accolades after an impressive 39-13 season in 2014.

GVSU is ranked No. 15 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason National Poll, No. 28 in Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Division II Pre-Season Poll and No. 29 in the national rankings on d2baseballnews.com.

Additionally, three GVSU seniors earned NCBWA Preseason All-America laurels: outfielder Jamie Potts (second team), shortstop Kevin Zak and pitcher Evan Nietfeldt (honorable mention).

The team went 15-0 at home and 24-6 in GLIAC play last season before losing a 5-2 decision to Drury in the semifinal round of the NCAA Division II Midwest Region Tournament in Evansville, Ind.

The team returns to Evansville to begin the 2015 campaign with a three-game series against reigning national champion Southern Indiana from Feb. 20-22.

Laker lacrosse team tabbed as GLIAC favorite

After its second conference championship in as many years, the Grand Valley State women’s lacrosse team was tabbed as the favorite to win the GLIAC in the 2015 GLIAC Women’s Lacrosse Preseason Poll, which was released on Friday.

GVSU received seven of seven possible first-place votes in the balloting for a total of 49 points. Two-time runner-up Tiffin (42 points) received the vote from GVSU coach Alicia Groveston.

The Lakers bring back 12 starters and 20 total players from last year’s team that finished 13-5 overall and 7-0 in GLIAC play.

The team begins its challenging regular-season schedule with six road games in five different states. The Lakers will travel to Florida, South Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.