ALLENDALE, Mich. - The Wayne State University baseball team (29-17, 23-7 GLIAC) clinched its second Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title in the last three years with a 14-11 victory in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader at Grand Valley State (32-12, 22-9 GLIAC).

As the teams combined for 30 hits including five home runs in the slugfest, it was the Warriors' four-run sixth inning which gave them the lead as they went on to claim first place in the GLIAC for the third time in the last six seasons.

Paul LaMantia (Tecumseh, Ont./St. Anne's) went 4-for-5, hit his 11th home run of the season, drove in five runs and scored twice. He was among six Warriors to post a multiple-hit performance.

Ryan LaPensee (LaSalle, Ont./St. Thomas of Villanova), who extended his hitting streak to 11 games, tied the WSU single-season record of 77 hits as he went 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBI and four runs scored. Michael Wiseman (White Lake, Mich./Lakeland) also homered as part of a three-hit game, and Alex Trojan (Fenton, Mich./Hartland) finished with three hits.

Wayne State held a 9-4 lead after three innings, but GVSU scored seven runs over the next two frames to pull ahead, 11-10.

As WSU regained the lead for good after the top of the sixth, Matt Rustulka (Windsor, Ont./Riverside) kept the Lakers at bay until they put two runners on with two outs in the seventh. David White (Taylor, Mich./Kennedy) came on to strike out Kyle Gendron, who had three hits and six RBI in the game, and earn his fourth save of the year.

Rustulka (2-1) earned the win, totaling 2.2 innings and allowing two runs on four hits. He was one of three relief pitchers used after starter Tyler Loehr (Brighton, Mich.) surrendered seven runs over three innings.

LaMantia's three-run homer in the top of the first put him one shy of the WSU single-season record of 12 set by Jason Copeland in 1998. He drove in another run in the second as the Warriors grabbed a 5-0 lead.

Wayne State countered GVSU's four-run second inning with a four-run third frame, highlighted by LaPensee's three-run shot to right.

The Lakers posted yet another big inning in the fourth, as Cody Grice and Gendron each hit two-run homers to make it a 10-8 game.

Wiseman hit a solo shot to right in the top of the fifth, but Gendron's three-run triple gave GVSU the lead.

The Warriors capitalized on an error and a passed ball early in the sixth inning on their way to a four-run output. Andrew Ciennik (Waterford, Mich./Mott), LaMantia and Wiseman each drove one in.

Rustulka retired five in a row before White came on to stifle GVSU's two-out rally in the seventh.

Wayne State and Grand Valley State will close out the 2010 regular season with a nine-inning contest Sunday at noon.

NOTES
Saturday's win marked WSU's highest run total against GVSU since a 15-14 loss in Allendale on May 6, 2000 … the Warriors are 8-1 this season when scoring 10 or more runs … LaPensee is tied with former WSU shortstop Frank Jeney for the school single-season hits record, set in 2005 … LaMantia is one of five Tartars/Warriors to hit 11 home runs in a season, along with Copeland, Mark Limback (1982), Jon Weisman (2007) and Tony Hines (2007).