DETROIT -- The Wayne State University baseball team (24-16 overall, 13-9 GLIAC) will make its final conference road trip of the regular season this week when it travels to Davenport (14-26 overall, 9-11 GLIAC) for a four-game series Friday through Sunday. Friday's contest will begin at 4 p.m. in Caledonia, Mich. before Saturday's 1 p.m. doubleheader and Sunday's 12 p.m. series finale.
Last Time Out
Grand Valley State took three of four games from Wayne State last weekend including the final three of the series. The Warriors were victorious in the series opener 10-5 before the Lakers handled the next three, 5-1 (no-hitter), 14-3 and 8-2. Davenport has won four of its last five outings including a Tuesday non-conference victory at Hillsdale (10-5) before three of four at Parkside over the weekend, 15-3, 20-6, 19-8 and 5-6 in 11 innings. The Panthers have gone 3-5 at home so far this spring while the Warriors own a record of 8-6 in true road games.
Earlier this Season
Wayne State and Davenport faced off four a double dip in Hammond, Ind. back on Saturday, March 23. The Warriors came out on top for both ends of that doubleheader, 12-0 and 6-2. Not only did WSU outscore the Panthers 18-2 with 20 hits to DU's seven, the Warriors' pitchers were brilliant.
Karter Fitzpatrick went the distance with 10 strikeouts, only one walk and two hits against him without allowing a run in the opener. Then in the nightcap,
Griffin Kilander pitched seven innings with one earned run surrendered on four hits, two free passes and six punchouts. In relief,
Evan Langlois was nearly spotless with just one base knock to his name in two frames with a strikeout.
Series History
Davenport leads the all-time series 15-11, including 8-4 in Caledonia, but Wayne State has won five straight meetings and seven of the last eight between the two teams. The last time the Warriors played a four-game set on the Panthers' field was April 1-3, 2022 with each team taking a pair.
Scouting Davenport
The Panthers hit .278 as a squad (fourth in the GLIAC) with a team ERA of 6.69 (fifth). At the plate, DU's leader has been Josh Robinson with a .393 batting average, good for fourth in the league. Davenport's next-best clip of .321 belongs to Anthony Aloisio and ranks 15th. Robinson and Aloisio are above the .300 mark while Michael Tchavdarov (.297), Xander Reisbig (.292) and Logan Todd (.287) are just below it. On the mound, Panther regulars with a sub-4.00 ERA are Carson Fischer (3.82 ERA in 63.2 innings pitched) and Austin VanderMarkt (3.21 ERA in 28 frames).
About the Warriors
Five Wayne State regulars are hitting close to or above the .300 mark including
Kyle Ray (.340),
Tony Hatzigeorgiou (.331),
Drew Hill (.325),
Mason McGuire (.318) and
CJ Maury (.296). On the bump, Fitzpatrick has accumulated the most innings pitched with 65 and a team-leading 3.60 ERA.
NCAA Regional Rankings
The season's first edition of the
NCAA regional rankings were released on Wednesday in alphabetical order and Wayne State was one of nine squads featured. The Warriors were one of two GLIAC teams along with Saginaw Valley State. The GLVC was represented by Drury, Illinois Springfield, Maryville and UIndy while Ashland, Northwood and Walsh came from the G-MAC. The next installment, which comes out on Wednesday, May 1, will have the teams ranked by number.
