For the first time this season, Grosse Pointe South will have a chance to prove themselves in a conference matchup. They are headed away from home for the first time to square off against the Utica Chieftains at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. Grosse Pointe South is coming into the contest hot, having won their last six games.
Grosse Pointe South gave up the first runs on Saturday, but they didn't let that get them down. They blew past Roosevelt 11-2. Considering the Blue Devils have won five matchups by more than seven runs this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.
Trey Grabowski made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Grabowski was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Ben Kocik, who went 3-for-4 with four RBI, two runs, and one double. Dane Lezotte also deserves some recognition as he hit his first double of the season.
Grosse Pointe South was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .433. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .316 or higher in three consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Utica didn't have quite enough to beat Chippewa Valley on Saturday and fell 5-3.
Utica saw seven different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jimmy Lasceski, who scored a run while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.
Grosse Pointe South's win was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-1. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.8 runs on average over those games. As for Utica, they now have a losing record of 4-5.
Grosse Pointe South skirted past Utica 5-4 in their previous matchup back in May of 2015. Will the Blue Devils repeat their success, or do the Chieftains have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
