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TOURNAMENT STORYLINES
Having qualified for the GLIAC Tournament for the eighth time in nine years, the Wayne State University baseball team will face Saginaw Valley State University in the first round Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Wayne State went 3-1 against Lake Erie over the weekend to move into second place in the conference. The Storm, who dropped to third, will meet Tiffin on Wednesday evening at 5:30. Top-seeded Grand Valley State will battle Ashland at 2:00.
The Warriors and Cardinals met in the 2011 GLIAC Tournament as well, which resulted in an 11-3 win for Wayne State and SVSU's elimination. WSU has defeated SVSU in three straight postseason meetings (2005, 2010).
Grand Valley State won its 16th conference regular-season title and will face an Ashland team which has lost 11 of its last 16 games. Both Lake Erie and Tiffin are in the GLIAC Tournament for the first time this season.
The winner of the double-elimination tournament will receive an automatic bid and be one of six teams to compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional starting May 17.
All Wayne State postseason games will be broadcast on
Warrior All-Access, providing live streaming audio free of charge to fans. Tom Gorman and Matt Cunningham will be on the call.
AT THE HELM
Ryan Kelley is in his 10th season overall at WSU and fourth as the head baseball coach in 2012. The Warriors set a school record for wins (35) and advanced to the championship game of the NCAA Midwest Regional for the second time in program history last season. His 2010 squad won 32 games and earned the GLIAC regular-season and tournament championships, while in 2009 he set a program record for wins by a first-year head coach. Kelley's career record stands at 122-84.
Walt Head has a 30-year career record of 842-604-6 at Saginaw Valley State.
In 14 seasons as the head coach at Grand Valley State, Steve Lyon has a record of 546-202-2. His career record, which includes five years at Oakland University, is 659-303-3. Lyon has guided the Lakers to nine GLIAC titles and 10 NCAA Regional appearances.
Brian McGee has a five-year career record of 98-141 as the head coach at Lake Erie.
Lonny Allen, who also serves as the Athletic Director at Tiffin, has a 21-year career head coaching record of 444-516-2 at his alma mater.
John Schaly is in his 15th season at Ashland, where he has led the Eagles to the NCAA playoffs 11 times including four trips to the Division II World Series. He has over 900 victories in a head coaching career which also includes stints at St. Leo (1992-97) and Berry (1988-91).
IN THE POLLS
Wayne State was ranked fourth in the NCAA Midwest Regional poll released last Tuesday. Grand Valley State is the second ranked team in the region and is ranked 18th in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II national poll.
RECAP - SATURDAY, MAY 5
GAME 1 - LAKE ERIE 5, WAYNE STATE 4 (8 INN.): The Warriors scored twice in the sixth inning and once in the seventh to erase a 4-1 deficit, but the Storm responded with a run in the top of the eighth.
Kyle Vesey,
Alex Trojan and
Kasey Koster led Wayne State with two hits apiece. Vesey scored twice, and Trojan drove in two key runs late in the game.
In the sixth, Vesey reached second base on a dropped fly ball by LEC centerfielder Aaron Lindgren. He would eventually score on a base hit by Trojan, who in turn later scored on a wild pitch.
Consecutive one-out singles in the seventh by
Andrew Ciennik and Vesey, and a subsequent walk to
Kyle Zimmerman, loaded the bases for Trojan who brought in a run with a sacrifice fly. The Warriors left two runners stranded, however, as they did in the sixth and eighth innings.
Kyle Kemp was hit by a pitch with one out in the eighth, went to second on a wild pitch and scored the winning run on an RBI single by Nick Lovick.
Josh Wedesky battled through the first six innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on eight hits. Kemp's two-run single in the second and a solo home run by Pat Kilway – the only extra-base hit of the game – in the fifth inning were the crucial hits for the Storm.
Wayne State scored an unearned run on an error in the second, but Lake Erie starter Adam Beach escaped the bases-loaded jam. The Warriors stranded 11 runners in the game altogether.
Beach allowed just three hits in five innings before giving way to Doug Fox (3-1), who surrendered the tying runs but fanned three in two innings. Heath Kelley picked up his third save of the year, and
Billy Hurley took the loss (3-1) for Wayne State.
GAME 2 - WAYNE STATE 5, LAKE ERIE 1: Alex Pierse pitched six solid innings and improved to 6-1 on the year. He allowed just one unearned run and scattered seven hits, walked three and struck out four.
Zimmerman smacked his third home run of the season, one of his two hits in the game, and posted his third four-RBI game of the year.
Brad Guenther and
Kenny Davis also had two-hit performances.
Wayne State took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Zimmerman drove in Guenther, who led off with a base hit, on a sacrifice fly. Zimmerman's three-run shot over the Green Monster in left made it a 4-0 game in the third.
The Storm put across their lone run in the fourth as Kilway, who reached on an error, later scored on a double play. The Warriors answered in the sixth on Vesey's sacrifice fly, bringing home
Justin DeFrancis.
Ethan Vasiliauskas pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief of Pierse. Logan Nordquist, the first of three Lake Erie pitchers, took the loss (2-5).
RECAP - SUNDAY, MAY 6
GAME 3 - WAYNE STATE 5, LAKE ERIE 4 (8 INN.): A game which was tied 4-4 after four innings morphed into a pitchers' duel between relievers
Justin Sylvester and Tyler Minnich. Sylvester, who came on in the fourth inning, allowed just one single in the fifth and retired the last 10 batters he faced. Minnich (0-1) relieved Jimmie Shaw in Wayne State's four-run second inning and finished the game.
While the Warriors managed just five hits and left 11 runners on base, they drew eight walks and capitalized on four Lake Erie errors.
Lake Erie struck first in the opening inning as Matt Toth hit a one-out double to left and scored on a base hit by Brayan Cacique.
Shaw walked the bases loaded to start the bottom of the second before being lifted for Minnich. Davis drove in
Chris Gebara with a sacrifice fly, and both Koster and
Eric Cunningham scored on grounders.
Andrew Ciennik tacked on an RBI single to give WSU a 4-1 lead.
Cacique made it 4-2 with a sacrifice fly in the third. Three hits in the fourth led to a run and ended Zimmerman's day on the mound. The Storm scored another run aided by a WSU error, but Sylvester induced a ground ball to leave two runners stranded.
The Warriors loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth but failed to score. In the eighth, however, Vesey smacked a one-out triple to right center and scored on a wild pitch by Minnich.
Sylvester (1-0) fanned four in 4.1 innings of work. Neither he nor Zimmerman walked a batter.
GAME 4 - WAYNE STATE 12, LAKE ERIE 11: All 11 runs scored by the Storm were unearned, including the nine runs Lake Erie posted to take a 10-2 lead in the top of the fifth. Wayne State immediately responded, however, with 10 runs in the bottom half of the fifth.
After an error and a walk put two aboard in the seventh inning, Hurley retired the next two batters. A base hit by Reid Rizzo, however, brought home Lindgren from third. Sean Mathews tried to score from second, but Koster's throw to Guenther was in time to record the third out and provide Hurley with his school-record tying 10th save of the season.
Koster had three hits in the game to lead the Warriors offensively. Four Warriors – Vesey, Guenther, Trojan and Davis – had two hits apiece.
Wayne State left the bases loaded in the third inning as the game remained scoreless. A sacrifice fly by Garrett Emling snapped the tie in the fourth.
A two-run single by Davis, the third hit of the fourth inning by Wayne State, gave the home team a 2-1 lead.
Lake Erie sent 14 hitters to the plate in its nine-run fifth inning. The Storm loaded the bases with two outs, but the first of two Wayne State errors in the inning allowed the first run to score and opened the floodgates. Kilway and Rizzo each drove in two runs.
Walks to Zimmerman and Trojan sandwiched a one-out double by Guenther, the first of eight hits in the bottom of the fifth inning for the Warriors as they also sent 14 men to bat.
Andrew Ciennik hit a two-run double, while base hits by Koster, Davis, Vesey and Guenther each drove in a run. Trojan's two-run single gave Wayne State a 12-10 lead, producing the eventual game-winning run.
Brock Bates, one of four pitchers used by Wayne State, picked up his first career victory. Mike Morgan (1-3) took the loss as he allowed Trojan's decisive single in the fifth.
SCOUTING SAGINAW VALLEY STATE
Wayne State's first opponent in the GLIAC Tournament is Saginaw Valley State, a team which was eliminated from the postseason by the Warriors a year ago. The Cardinals, who have won six of the last eight regular-season meetings with WSU, lost its final three games at Tiffin over the weekend.
Brandon Schwanz leads SVSU with a .369 batting average, ninth-best in the conference. Cam Wiechmann (.340) is riding a 13-game hitting streak, and Chet LaFave (.342) has nine extra-base hits and 21 RBI this season.
The GLIAC leader with a 1.40 ERA, Mike Saunders is 6-2 with 65 strikeouts. He last faced the Warriors on May 4, 2011 in Detroit, allowing two runs on five hits with six strikeouts but not earning a decision as Wayne State won, 3-2, in eight innings.
WARRIOR NOTEBOOK
Wayne State had split seven out of eight doubleheaders including four straight before sweeping Sunday's games against Lake Erie. The victories not only propelled the Warriors into second place, but gave them their third straight 30-win season and their fifth since 2005.
Vesey went 7-for-14 at the plate in the weekend series and extended his hitting streak to 10 games. He is hitting .500 (17-34) with 10 RBI and 14 runs scored during that span. Vesey ranks sixth in the conference in batting average (.379), seventh in slugging percentage (.510) and eighth in RBI (32).
Sylvester allowed just one earned run over two appearances last week. The 4.1 innings he worked in each appearance mark a career-high. Sylvester's victory on Senior Day was the second of his career.
Andrew Ciennik, who this season has set three WSU career records (sacrifice bunts, sacrifice flies, fielding assists), moved into sixth place all-time with 186 hits. Ciennik has also played in 196 games in his career, surpassing Jon Weisman (2004-07) for third place.
With 10 saves, Hurley is tied with Jon Venuto's (1999-2002) single-season and career (18) saves records. Hurley also made his 53rd career appearance Sunday, putting him in a tie for fourth with Ryan Woodard (2000-03).
Wedesky made his 33rd career start on Saturday, moving him into a tie for eighth with Anthony Bass (2006-08). Wedesky is also tied for ninth all-time with Matt Horvath (1993-96) with 17 career victories.
The GLIAC leader in runs scored (43), Guenther also ranks second in walks (30) and seventh in on-base percentage (.458).
ACADEMIC HONORS
Andrew Ciennik and
Phil Swanson were voted to the Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Both seniors will appear on the ballot for CoSIDA Academic All-America voting.
Ciennik is a biological sciences major who has maintained a 3.75 grade-point average at Wayne State. A two-year co-captain for the Warriors, Swanson has a 3.52 GPA in civil engineering. He also received CoSIDA Academic All-District honors in 2010.
