DETROIT, Mich. - The Davenport baseball team is hitting its stride at the right time having won six in a row and taking all four games in the series at Wayne State. The Warriors were in first place at the start of the series and Davenport was sitting in sixth. After the four wins, Davenport has vaulted into third place and Wayne State moved into fourth. The Panthers are poised to make a run at the league regular season championship with four games remaining this weekend against Parkside. Northwood in first place will travel to Wayne State and second place Grand Valley State is done with their regular season. NU is 16-8 in the conference followed by GVSU at 13-7 and Davenport at 15-9. 

The Panthers (22-14 overall) have now won eight straight against Wayne State and lead the all-time series 11-2. The pitching was stellar today in the lopsided wins. Evan Maize (2-1) got the win in Game 1 and went five innings while allowing just two hits. He gave up a run in the first and then held the Warriors scoreless in the last four innings. Maize walked four and struck out three in 88 pitches. Isaac Van Dyke gave up an unearned run in his two innings and struck out a batter.

Wayne State pitching walked 11 Panthers and the offense made the most of it. Chad Sommers issued six of those walks to take the loss (2-3) for the Warriors. He also gave up six earned runs in four innings and threw 98 pitches. Ryan Korolden was greeted in the sixth inning by Noah Marcoux who hit a grand slam which gave Davenport a 10-1 lead. Marcoux set a new career high with six RBI in the game as he also had a two-run single in the fourth.

Nolan Bryant went 2-for-4 at the plate with a RBI. Kamrin Markwardt had a double and single in three at-bats and scored twice. Travis Harvey drove in a pair with a double and sacrifice fly. Christian Petre walked four times and scored a team-high three runs.

Marcoux stayed hot with a two-run double in the third inning of Game 2 to give DU a 2-0 lead. It remained that way until the fifth when Ben Mets had an RBI infield single and Bryant drew a bases-loaded walk. Both runs scored after two outs in the inning. Harvey in the sixth inning tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly for a 5-0 lead.

Duncan Gillett got the start for Davenport but struggled with control problems. He lasted 2.1 innings and although he did not give up a hit did walk two and hit three batters. Zach Haefer had his best outing as a Panther in relief. He tossed 70 pitches in 5.2 innings and struck out a season-high six Warriors. He allowed just two hits and Wayne State did not record a hit until Michael MacLean hit a one-out solo homer in the sixth inning to make it 5-1.

Nolan Anspaugh led off the eighth inning with a triple and Petre hit a sacrifice fly to increase the lead to 6-1. The Panthers scored three more times in the ninth. Carson Eby walked and stole his first base of the season. Markwardt singled him over to third with one out and Bryant laid down a great sacrifice bunt to score Eby. Gaetano Vallone then hit his first career home run, a two-run shot to right, which gave DU a 9-1 advantage.

The Warriors would score once in their half of the ninth off Max Swan on three hits. Haefer got the win for Davenport moving to 1-0. Karter Fitzpatrick took the loss for Wayne State and is now 4-2. Fitzpatrick tossed five innings in the start and gave up just two earned runs on 111 pitches. Jack Schmidt gave up five earned runs in his four innings of work. 

Petre went 2-for-3 and stole two bases in Game 2. Anspaugh went 3-for-5 with three runs scored. Markwardt had another multi-hit game going 2-for-5.