CALEDONIA, Mich. - Davenport baseball won the final three games of the Grand Valley State series with a 7-6 comeback victory on Sunday in the series finale. The series was an incredible display of NCAA Division II baseball with all four games being played with intensity.
Jonas Gulbrandsen gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a RBI double down the left field line which plated Ryan Dykstra. The Panthers answered right back in the first as
Zach Hopman reached on an error, which allowed
Coltrane Rubner to score.
Cody Hultink then made the error pay even more with a two-run scoring single up the middle to score
Justin Johnson and Hopman.
The Lakers tied it up at 3-3 in their half of the third inning. Dykstra had a RBI triple to the right center wall and Jovan Gill followed with a RBI groundout. Ryan Stimac gave GVSU a 4-3 lead in the fourth inning as he had a bunt single and a throwing error allowed Ayden VanEnkevort to score.
Davenport got that run back in the bottom of the fourth as
Logan Todd had a RBI groundout to third base. The scoring would continue in the seventh inning as the Lakers would score twice. Gulbrandsen had a sacrifice fly to right center as Evan Morrison scored from third. Brendan Guciardo then singled through the left side to score Dykstra for the 6-4 lead.
The Panthers trailed heading into the eighth, but again had some late-inning magic like on Saturday. Edward Konow, a freshman from Tinley Park, Illinois, came into pitch for GVSU to start the eighth.
Chase Kemp led off with a bloop single to left center between three fielders. Todd followed with a sharp single to center.
Sam Clay then had a bouncing double down the left field line to score Kemp and move Todd to third. Sebastian Talaga entered on the mound and got two groundouts back to him to keep the runners staying put.
Xander Reisbig came through in the clutch with two outs as he took an 0-2 pitch and singled through the left side to take a 7-6 lead.
Mason Hill took over in the eighth inning on the mound for Davenport and came back in the ninth. He got two outs before an infield single by Gulbrandsen. He finished the game with a flyout by Guciardo to end the game and pick up his first win of the season.
Davenport had 12 hits, but just the one extra-base hit by Clay with the double in the eighth. Rubner, Hultink,
Michael Tchavdarov, and Kemp each had two hits to pace the offense. The Panthers will now go out of conference on Friday, Apr. 4 as they welcome GLVC member Lewis (19-6) to the Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex for a 1:00 PM doubleheader.
