GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Davenport baseball team navigated a tough Florida trip with a pair of bookend wins. The trip started with an 11-6 win over St. Cloud State on March 11. The Panthers found themselves trailing 6-5 in the sixth inning, but managed to score the final six runs of the game with four coming in the seventh and two more in the eighth. Justin Johnson and Aiden Warn delivered RBI singles, with Warn's RBI single giving DU the lead for good. Carson Lindau made it 9-6 with a two-run single to wrap up the seventh inning scoring. Dylan Pawenski drove in two runs in the eighth on a single to center, which scored Johnson and Wyatt Epple. Joe Chrapliwy picked up his first win in a DU uniform, going the final 3.1 innings and allowing just one hit and no runs with a walk and two strikeouts.

DU then salvaged the final game of a four-game series at No. 3 Tampa with an 8-5 victory on March 15. The Spartans led 5-2 into the eighth inning before the Panthers erupted for six runs to claim the victory. Pawenski scored on a balk to plate the third run, and Cam Johnson tied it up with a two-RBI single to left. Parker Neel reached on an error, and Johnson scored the unearned run to go ahead 6-5. Sam Clay singled up the middle to score Neel with the seventh run. Justin Johnson also singled up the middle to score Clay for the 8-5 lead. Brandon Skorupski got his second win of the season in 2.2 relief innings and allowed no runs on four hits with a walk and a pair of punchouts. Gage Vota retired the final two batters to earn his first save of the season.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Justin Johnson continues to pace the offense, which is hitting .314 as a team against the third-toughest schedule to Division II to date. DU's opponents are a combined 272-134 this season. Johnson is batting .433 (39-of-90) to put him fifth in the GLIAC and 54th in Division II. He is second in the conference with 39 hits, which is also 36th in Division II. His extra-base power includes eight doubles and six home runs while driving in 26 runs. Johnson had his 10-game hit streak end in game two on March 14 at Tampa. Pawenski is right behind him with a .403 batting average (29-of-72). He has a team-high seven home runs and 29 RBIs. The senior catcher leads the league in homers and is second in RBIs. He is currently riding a six-game hit streak in which he is batting 10 for his last 22 (.455). Aiden Warn has been on base 50.5 percent of the time and leads the team with 24 walks. The next closest Panther is Sam Clay with 11. Warn leads the GLIAC in free passes and is 14th in Division II.

SERIES HISTORY
Davenport will open up GLIAC action with four games against Roosevelt at the Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex in Caledonia. DU owns a 4-1 record against the Lakers, who joined the conference and Division II last season. This marks the first home games for Davenport, who went 3-1 in Chicago last season.

The teams then played in the first game of the GLIAC Tournament on May 8 in Lansing, with the Panthers prevailing 19-3. It was the most runs scored in a tournament game by Davenport, who would go on to win the next three games to claim their third tournament championship in school history. Clay batted leadoff that day and went 2-for-5 with three runs scored and two walks. Johnson drove in three runs and scored once. Pawenski drove in two runs, including a sacrifice fly. Ian Dixon got a three-inning save and allowed no earned runs with three strikeouts.   

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Roosevelt enters this weekend with an overall record of 7-11 and has won their last four games. They traveled to Ohio Wesleyan and Ohio Christian last weekend to secure those four victories. Three of those wins came by one run, including both games on March 14 with a 5-4 decision against Ohio Christian and an 8-7 triumph against Ohio Wesleyan.

The Lakers and Panthers do have common opponents this season, as RU dropped four straight at Quincy by a combined score of 74-21 on Feb. 20-21. Davenport dropped 3-of-4 at Quincy, but two of those losses were by one run. Roosevelt also lost 9-3 in Florida against Rockhurst. DU dropped the first three games of their season to the Hawks, but two of those were again by a single run.

Ian Bagaconza is currently leading the team with a .451 batting average (23-of-51) and a 1.164 OPS. He has scored 16 runs and collected four doubles, one home run, and nine RBIs. CJ Chalk is hitting .355 (22-of-62) in 18 starts with a team-leading 20 runs and 13 walks. Alejandro Munoz leads the Lakers with 17 RBIs and has also collected two doubles and a triple.

The pitching staff comes in with an 11.03 team earned-run average in 133 innings. They have totaled 101 walks and 99 strikeouts, with opponents hitting .361 with 23 home runs. Liam Neely has a pair of wins under his belt and a 7.54 ERA in 22.2 innings. Anthony Sorrentino leads the team with 15 strikeouts in 17.2 innings with a 6.11 ERA.

SCHEDULE
Friday, Mar. 20 - 3:00 PM (Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex) - Live Stats - Live Video
Saturday, Mar. 21 - 1:00 PM Doubleheader (Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex) - Live Stats - Live Video
Sunday, Mar. 22 - 12:00 PM (Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex) - Live Stats - Live Video

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