GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The postseason is looming and the Davenport baseball team has positioned themselves for their third GLIAC regular season championship in the last five years. This season has been a consistent approach that has paid dividends. The Panthers have gone from a team that finished 14 games below .500 a year ago into the top-ranked team in the Midwest Region as released by the NCAA on Wednesday. Davenport comes into the final GLIAC series needing just one win at Roosevelt to claim the outright title in the conference. They are 34-12 overall and 18-2 in the GLIAC with a four-game series at Roosevelt beginning on Friday at 4:00 PM ET in Chicago, Ill. The Panthers are enjoying their best win percentage since joining NCAA Division II and their .900 win percentage in league games is the highest since GVSU went 34-1 during the 2011 season.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
The Panthers have earned the top spot in this week's Midwest Regional rankings by competing and beating the best. Davenport still owns the best strength of schedule in Division II by winning 34 games against the opposition who has a .627 win percentage. The next closest is that category to date is St. Anselm of the NE10 conference whose opponents have won 59.6 percent of their games. The Panthers have played seven of the other eight teams listed in the Midwest Regional rankings this week. In those contests, DU has a record of 16-6. The Panthers have also played the top team in the South (Tampa) and Central (Central Missouri) regions. Davenport is ranked No. 14 in Division II this week by the ABCA, No. 18 by the NCBWA, and No. 20 by D2Baseball.com.

The Panthers finished their home schedule in style back on Tuesday with a come-from-behind, 10-9 win over current No. 7 in the Midwest Regional rankings Illnois-Springfeld. DU trailed 5-1 through four innings and 8-4 through six innings against the Prairie Stars. Down 9-8 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Justin Johnson led off with his ninth home run of the season to tie the game. Cody Hultink was hit by a pitch and Dylan Pawenski doubled to set up the final at-bat for Garrett Swan. UIS made a pitching change from Jack Tobin to Austin Loberger, but Swan jumped on the first pitch and singled to center as Hultink scored and Swan delivered his second walk-off hit of the season. Sam Clay tripled twice and singled once at the top of the order while scoring twice. Coltrane Rubner had a season-high four hits and has hit safely in his last six games. Johnson and Swan each drove in three runs.

The Panthers will look to get back the services of Xander Reisbig who missed the Wayne State series. Reisbig is leading the GLIAC in conference games with a .491 batting average (27-55). The next closest guy is Hultink who is batting .422 (19-45) in league contests. The Panthers are batting .344 in league games and holding their opponents to a .228 batting average. The next closest team batting average is Grand Valley State at .295. For the season, DU ranks No. 18 in Division II in ERA (4.14), 12th in hits allowed per nine innings (8.37), 18th in shutouts (5), and ninth in WHIP (1.31).

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the first games between the two teams. Roosevelt is a newcomer to the GLIAC this season.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Roosevelt is currently 14-31 overall and 4-16 in the GLIAC, which is good for sixth place. They are one game ahead of Purdue Northwest for the final spot in the upcoming GLIAC Tournament as the sixth seed. The Pride will finish their season with four games at Saginaw Valley State this weekend. The Lakers are 6-5 at home this season. They just took three of four games against Olivet Nazarene last Friday and Saturday. Each team played a doubleheader at home. RU won 6-5 and 3-0 on Friday in Chicago and then split, falling 7-3 before winning 15-4 in Bourbonnais, Ill. on Saturday.

James Berry leads the team with a .414 batting average (72-174) and is tied for the most hits in the GLIAC with Peter Fusek of Parkside. Berry has 100 total bases on the season with 13 doubles, six triples and one home run. He is also 12-of-17 in stolen bases and leads the team in steals. Kekoa Ogawa is batting .387 (65-168) with a 1.009 OPS in 45 starts. He has 10 doubles, four triples, three home runs, and 28 RBI. He has a .461 on-base percentage and is 11-of-15 on the basepaths. The Lakers have a 7.32 earned-run average as a squad. The top hurler has been AJ Gliwa out of the bullpen. He has made 20 appearances with a 4.74 ERA and 3-0 record in 24.2 innings.

LIVE COVERAGE
Friday, May 2 at Roosevelt – 4:00 PM ET – Live Video (FloCollege) – Live Stats
Saturday, May 3 at Roosevelt (DH) – 2:00 PM ET – Live Video (FloCollege) – Live Stats
Sunday, May 4 at Roosevelt – 1:00 PM ET – Live Video (FloCollege) – Live Stats