Ashland University's baseball team lost for the first time at the 2015 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament to Grand Valley State, 18-5, on Saturday (May 9) at the Athletes in Action Sports Complex in Xenia, Ohio.
The Eagles (35-16) will play at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in the tournament's consolation bracket against the winner of Saturday's 2 p.m. game between Ohio Dominican and Wayne State. The Lakers (33-16) will await the winner of the AU/ODU-WSU game on Sunday (May 10) at 11 a.m.
The Eagles loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first, but didn't score. They turned the same trick in the bottom of the second, but senior second baseman Stephen James came through with an RBI single to put AU on top early. Junior right fielder Mike Lewandowski followed with an RBI groundout to give Ashland a 2-0 lead, then that advantage became 3-0 after an RBI single from junior first baseman Mackenzie Hampshire.
The Lakers responded with two runs in the top of the third, but the Eagles got a run back in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of senior left fielder Kyle Brooks.
Grand Valley didn't go away, however, and six more runs in the top of the fifth lifted it to an 8-4 lead. The Lakers tacked on five runs in the top of the sixth, two in the top of the eighth and three in the top of the ninth.
Sophomore designated hitter Steve Mowry hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth for the Eagles.
James and Hampshire each had three of Ashland's 13 hits, and Lewandowski and senior shortstop Austin Walts each collected two hits.
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