CALEDONIA, Mich. – The finale of the four-game series between Davenport and Grand Valley State was a crazy game in which DU fell 20-12. The Lakers were cruising into the bottom of the ninth with a 20-2 lead over the Panthers, but the boys did not roll over by scoring 10 runs and leaving the bases loaded. GVSU used four pitchers in the last inning but finally ended the contest.

Tate Brawley had a strong outing for the Lakers going seven innings and allowing seven hits and two earned runs. Brawley walked two and struck out five improving to 3-1 overall. GVSU jumped all over Sam Traver with four runs (one earned) in the top of the first to set the tone. Davenport scored once in the first and then again in the third to cut the lead to 6-2 at the time.

In the first inning, Austin Petravicius led off with a triple to right and Nolan Bryant bounced out to first for the RBI. In the third inning, Bryant tripled with one out to right and then scored on a RBI groundout by Zac Wilson. Wilson singled in the first to tie the school record for career hits (191).

Trevor Russo pitched for the Panthers in the second and allowed two runs on two hits with two walks. Austin Stephens pitched a clean third and then yielded three runs in the fourth as the Lakers took a 9-2 lead. Josh Bobel retired the Lakers in order on just six pitches in the fifth, but then ran into trouble in the sixth giving up four runs. Chase Pike had his longest outing as a Panther going the final 3.2 innings. Pike gave up five earned runs but did strike out seven in 98 pitches (64 strikes).

By the start of the bottom of the ninth, most of the starters were out of the lineup for Davenport. The reserves showed tremendous heart by scoring 10 runs on five hits. Grant Peters took over to start the eighth and got DU out in order. He then pitched to the first six batters in the ninth giving up a walk, single, hit by pitch, infield fly, triple and single in that order before handing the ball to Brett Nearing. Nearing pitched to four batters and walked two and allowed two hits. Evan Koning then entered the game and threw to four hitters. He hit the first two batters he faced to force in runs and then made a nice play to force a runner out at third for the second out. Alex Licata inherited bases loaded and got the final out on a strikeout as DU stranded the bases loaded.

Traver took the loss (0-2) for the Panthers. GVSU had both Ryan Blake-Jones and Austin LaDoux go 5-for-5 at the plate. Blake-Jones had five singles and scored four runs. LaDoux had three singles, one double and one triple and drove in three. Andrew Figueroa led DU with four RBI and had a bases-clearing triple in the ninth inning rally. Figueroa was the only Panthers with multiple hits going 2-for-3.

SERIES NOTES: Jacob Buchberger led DU with a .462 average (6-for-13) in the series. DU batted .311 as a team while GVSU batted .355 as a team. DU pitchers struck out 40 in the four games.