PHOTO GALLERY

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - In the opening game of the 2010 GLIAC Tournament, the Wayne State University baseball team (30-18) scored eight runs over its final three innings to secure a 9-8 comeback victory over Saginaw Valley State University (22-22) on Thursday afternoon at V.A. Memorial Stadium.

The Warriors, the top seed in the tournament, scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, all with two outs after a costly error by SVSU shortstop Chase Coulter. Ryan LaPensee's (LaSalle, Ont./St. Thomas of Villanova) RBI single proved to be the game-winner, as closer David White (Taylor, Mich./Kennedy) came on in the ninth and allowed a run but picked up his fifth save of the season.

LaPensee finished with three hits, a walk, three RBI and two runs scored to help the Warriors defeat the Cardinals in their first postseason meeting since 2005.

Paul LaMantia (Tecumseh, Ont./St. Anne's) hit a two-run homer, his school record-tying 12th of the year, to help open the door for WSU to come back from a four-run deficit. John Skaggs (Adrian, Mich.) and Jamie Bailey (Petrolia, Ont./Lambton) had two hits apiece.

Saginaw Valley State scored all eight of its runs with two outs, totaling 14 hits and capitalizing on 10 walks compiled by five WSU pitchers. Leading the Cardinals was Kevin Dore with three hits and an RBI.

Garrett Grundman left the game with a lead after working seven innings and allowing four earned runs on eight hits. He walked three and struck out a pair. Craig Engerer took the loss in relief (2-3), charged with four unearned runs.

Josh Peterson put the Cardinals ahead in the second inning with a two-run single, and Matt Hunt added a run with an RBI base hit in the fourth. Dustin Mayner's RBI single in the fifth knocked WSU starter Justin Mazur (Macomb, Mich./De La Salle) out of the game.

Down 5-1 in the sixth, LaMantia's shot over the wall in right center provided a turning point in the game for the Warriors, who collected five two-out runs of their own to counter the clutch hitting of the Cardinals.

When two runs, including a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Webber, again put SVSU ahead by four, LaPensee answered in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run double to left center.

Josh Wedesky (Fowlerville, Mich.) came on in the eighth inning and recorded two key outs, including a strikeout of Peterson with a man on third.

After three consecutive one-out singles off Engerer, he fanned Bailey and seemed poised to escape the eighth with the lead. Coulter's error on a grounder by Brad Guenther (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline), however, provided Wayne State the opportunity it needed.

Andrew Ciennik (Waterford, Mich./Mott) followed with a two-run single up the middle, and LaPensee's RBI hit made it a 9-7 game.

White surrendered a two-out RBI single to Kyle O'Boyle in the ninth, but struck out Ryan Ermers to preserve the victory, the second of the season for Wedesky.

Wayne State will meet the winner of the game between Grand Valley State and Ashland on Friday at noon. SVSU will face the loser of the GVSU-AU matchup at 3:00.

NOTES
LaMantia tied Jason Copeland, who set the school record with 12 home runs in 1998 … he also broke single-season marks in total bases (122) and RBI (57) … LaPensee is 11-for-26 (.423) in seven career GLIAC Tournament games … he tied former WSU head coach Jay Alexander's single-season school record of 56 runs scored … White is the first Warrior pitcher to collect five saves in a year since Steve Squires in 2004 … Wayne State has outscored its opponents, 36-6, over the eighth and ninth inning combined this season.