GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport baseball team will be hosting Grand Valley State in the first of what will be six games during the regular season on Wednesday (Apr. 24) at the Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:00 PM and will finish under the lights, which will be the first night game of the home season for the Panthers. The regular season is winding down and Davenport is chasing the Lakers in the GLIAC standings. DU is currently fourth with a 9-11 record while the Lakers are in second place at 13-7.
The Panthers went 4-1 last week with a win over Hillsdale on Tuesday and then won the first three games of the weekend series at Parkside. The team nearly posted five straight wins as they had a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth in Sunday's game against the Rangers. They would score twice to force extra innings and eventually win it 6-5 in 11 innings.
Xander Reisbig was dialed in at the plate in the weekend series going 9-for-14 with four runs scored and five RBI. He reached base 70 percent of his plate appearances with four walks to go with his nine hits.
Connor Hnilo also had a fantastic couple of days batting 8-for-16 with eight runs scored and six RBI.
Michael Tchavdarov hit .450 going 9-for-20 with eight runs, a double, a home run, and six RBI. The Panthers posted a 3.86 team ERA during the weekend and limited the Rangers to a .267 batting average.
Carson Fischer got a win in Friday's game and went six innings while allowing one earned run with six strikeouts. He has won his last two starts and lowered his ERA from 5.28 to 3.82 for the season in his last five starts.
Jerad Berkenpas also got a win in Saturday's second game going seven innings. He has demonstrated tremendous command of the strike zone with just five walks all season and has totaled 35 strikeouts in 56.2 innings of work.
Davenport owns a 17-9 lead in the all-time series against GVSU dating back to 2018. The Panthers have won seven of the last 10 meetings against the Lakers. GVSU did end the DU 2023 season in their last matchup which occurred on May 13, 2023 in the GLIAC Tournament. Davenport built a 4-0 lead through two innings but ultimately lost 7-5. The Lakers trailed 5-3 through six innings but scored four times in the top of the seventh to pull ahead for good.
Jared Schwartz got the start and went six innings. He allowed four earned runs with three walks and nine strikeouts.
Spencer Vainavicz took the loss in one inning he allowed three hits and three earned runs with a walk and strikeout. Allan Thorington got the victory on the mound for the Lakers as he threw 7.1 relief innings and allowed just one run on three hits with a walk and strikeout. The Panthers are also 7-4 at The Farm in the all-time series.
Grand Valley State had both the GLIAC Player and Pitcher of the Week on Monday. Sam Leck earned GLIAC Pitcher of the Week as he tossed the ninth no-hitter in program history against a talented Wayne State lineup. He struck out five in seven innings of game one and allowed just three runners after the first inning. He is 3-1 this season with a 3.48 ERA in 33.2 innings. Jake Rydquist was selected as GLIAC Player of the Week after batting .500 (7-for-14) with seven RBI and six runs scored. He went 7-for-11 in the final three games of the GLIAC series at Wayne State. The Lakers moved into sole possession of second place in the league with the series win over the Warriors. GVSU is 6-8 in true road games this season with three of those wins coming in their last three games in Detroit. Kyle Nott is leading the Lakers this season with a .357 batting average and also leads the team with 12 stolen bases in 15 tries. Jonas Gulbrandsen has been the team's power source with eight home runs and 33 RBI. He is slugging .535 and also has 31 runs scored and eight doubles.
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