LANSING, Mich. -- The third-seeded Wayne State University baseball team (25-26 overall) took care of business against fourth-seeded Parkside (30-20 overall) 9-7 on Thursday night to open play in the GLIAC Tournament.  Next up, the Warriors will face eighth-ranked and second-seeded Grand Valley State on Friday evening at 7 p.m.

Parkside scored the game's first two runs in the top of the opening inning before Wayne State countered with five of its own in the home half of that frame.

Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.) got the party started with a lead-off single to the shortstop before Caleb Sanders (Eastpointe, Mich. / Detroit Edison Public School Academy [Dayton]) walked to put runners on first and second for Mason McGuire (Lyon Twp., Mich. / Brighton [Mott CC]).

McGuire doubled in Hitzelberger before Jacoby Dale (Roseville, Mich. [Spring Arbor/Henry Ford CC]) scored both Sanders and McGuire with a single to center field that gave the Warriors the lead (3-2) for good. 

Following another base knock to center, this time by Aidan Arbogast (Livonia, Mich. / Livonia Stevenson [Mid-Michigan C.C. / Kellogg C.C. / Eastern Michigan]), Drew Hill (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) moved both Dale and Arbogast up with a sac bunt to the right side.

Ty Garza (Grosse Ile, Mich. [Barton College]) proceeded to single in Dale before Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.) made the score 5-2 thanks to a sac fly to center that forced in Arbogast.

In the second, WSU stretched its advantage to five (7-2) when Sanders belted a two-run home run to left that also allowed Hitzelberger to touch home plate.  That blast was Sanders' third of the season and first since April 17 at Grand Valley State.

The Rangers cut the margin to three (7-4) with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth before the Warriors got those two right back (9-4) in the bottom of the inning.  Both scores came in on RBI singles, one by McGuire to push across Hitzelberger and the other by Hill to bring in McGuire.

UWP tacked on two runs in the seventh and another in the eighth, but no more.

Miles Jamieson (Grosse Pointe, Mich. / Grosse Pointe South [Mid Michigan / Davidson]) started before lasting three and two-thirds innings.  Jamieson gave up four earned runs on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts.

First out of the bullpen, Will DeMasse (Macomb, Mich. / Dakota) picked up the victory and improved to 4-4 after three frames of work.  DeMasse allowed two earned runs on four hits with two free passes and one punchout.

Coy Plummer (New Hudson, Mich. / South Lyon) bridged the gap to the closer with five outs recorded.  Plummer surrendered one earned run on one hit.  Ethan Getting (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Northern [Purdue Northwest]) then slammed the door for his fourth save of the year with the final two outs.  Getting one and struck out a pair.

Grand Valley State (40-10 overall) defeated fifth-seeded Saginaw Valley State (29-21 overall) 5-1 in Thursday's first contest and has won 11 games in a row.  The Lakers, defending GLIAC Tournament Champions, took three of four from Wayne State during the regular season back on April 17-19 in Allendale.