MATTOON, Ill. -- Four Wabash Valley pitchers combined to hold Lake Land to one hit in a 26-3 Great Rivers Athletic Conference baseball win here on Thursday.
That was the opener of a three-game series, which will conclude on Saturday with a 12-noon doubleheader at Fournier Field in Mt. Carmel. Both games will be streamed live by ESPN+ as the NJCAA Game of the Week.
Wabash Valley improved to 25-8 overall and 10-1 in GRAC play with the win. Lake Land fell to 12-15 and 4-4 with the loss.
Starting pitcher Jacob Frost threw four innings of no-hit baseball, striking out six batters and walking two in the process. Cade Schneider then worked the fifth and Isaac Seeger the sixth before the Lakers broke up the no-hitter against Maddox Pennington with two outs in the seventh inning.
Frost got the win and is now 5-1 on the year.
After a scoreless first inning, the Wabash Valley offense spread their run total over the next five innings, with frame totals of five, four, six, eight, and three, respectively.
The Lakers scored two runs in the sixth inning and once in the seventh.
Jon Legrande, who joined Patrick Graham with four RBIs on the day, was a double shy of hitting for the cycle. He singled in the second inning, hit a solo home run in the third, and tripled in the fifth.
Graham also homered, a 3-run blast in the third inning. Luke Evans matched Graham's shot with a 3-runner of his own in the fifth inning.
It was the second homer of the season for both Legrande and Graham, the first for Evans.
Legrande, Nicklas Williams, and Zamuarion Hatcher each had three-hit days at the plate. Williams, Luke Odden and Evans finished with three RBIs.