UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team posted a split with the Lake Erie Storm today (5/1) in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) doubleheader. The split puts the Cardinals at 18-21 overall on the season and 13-14 in the GLIAC while the Storm now stand at 20-21 overall and 13-15 in league play.
The first game was a marathon, going 12 innings and lasting three hours and 40 minutes. Lake Erie led 2-0 after the second inning, but SVSU would use a three-run homerun by Cam Wiechmann (Birch Run, Mich./Muskegon CC) in the bottom of the fourth to take the 3-2 lead.
The Cardinals would own a 5-3 lead after the sixth inning after Kyle O'Boyle (Midland, Mich./Bullock Creek HS) and Mike VanAlst (Clio, Mich.) had RBI base knocks. The Storm knotted the score at five in the seventh inning and the game would go into extra innings.
Both teams would score a single run in the ninth inning. Matt Hunt (Howell, Mich./Concordia University) kept SVSU alive with an RBI single, making the score 6-6.
The Storm plated two runs in the top of the 12th inning and would set the Cardinals down in order after, closing-out with the 8-6 victory.
Chet LaFave (Charlotte, Mich./Olney Central College) was 2-for-3 with three walks while Wiechmann and Eric Burt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) each had a pair of hits, with Wiechmann having three of the Cards' six RBI's.
Andrew Tidwell (Canton, Mich.) worked 3.1 innings of relief and took the loss, giving-up two runs on five hits.
SVSU led by a score of 4-1 after the first inning in the nightcap, using three RBI doubles and an RBI single.
The Cardinals had two-RBI doubles by Hunt and Kyle Parks (Flushing, Mich.) in the third and fourth innings, respectively, to grab an 8-5 lead.
The Storm scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to knot the score at 8-8. The score would remain tied until the bottom of the seventh, when Burt laced a single over the first base bag to score Parks from third, securing the walk-off victory.
Burt, Drew Woock (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS), Brandon Schwanz (Novi, Mich./Henry Ford CC) and Jason Potts (Hartland, Mich.) all had two hits and an RBI in the contest. Parks and Hunt each had a hit and two RBI's.
Justin Drzewicki (Bay City, Mich./Central HS) got the win in game two, upping his record to 1-2 on the season.
The Cardinals are back in action Wednesday (5/4), as they travel to Wayne State University for a GLIAC mid-week doubleheader.