ASHLAND, Ohio - The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team dropped both contests against Ashland University today (Apr. 15). SVSU fell 3-1 in game one before dropping game two 7-6 in eight innings. The Cardinals move to 15-17 on the season and 11-9 in the GLIAC, while the Eagles 22-12 go to overall and 14-6 in the conference.
Game 1
Ashland scored one run in the first, third and fifth innings to take a 3-0 lead into the top of the seventh.
Jason Potts (Hartland, Mich.) put the Cardinals on the scoreboard for the first time in the seventh with a double to left center bringing home Andy Orr (Utica, Mich.) who singled through the left side earlier in the inning. Potts finished the game with two hits.
However, the SVSU rally was not enough as Ashland held on for the 3-1 victory.
Game one featured a pitcher's duel between SVSU's Carson Beauchaine (Fraser, Mich./Fraser HS) and Ashland's Zach Botjer. Beauchaine threw all six innings for the Cardinals and struck out eight batters with no walks. Botjer struck out 12 Cardinal batters.
Chris Perkovich (Canton, Mich.) and Ryan Ermers (Sterling Heights, Mich./Henry Ford II HS) each added one hit a piece in the loss.
Game 2
Ashland would once again get on the scoreboard first as they pushed across four runs in the fourth inning to take the 4-0 lead.
The Cardinals recorded their first run of the ballgame as Cam Wiechmann (Birch Run, Mich./Muskegon CC) took a 1-2 pitch deep to left field and over the Donges Field fences for a solo home run, his second of the season, to cut the deficit to 4-1.
After the Eagles manufactured a run in the bottom of the fourth, SVSU bounced right back with another solo home run, this time from Chris Perkovich, the first of his collegiate career. Perkovich connected on the first pitch he saw over the fence in left center field to make the score 5-2.
Saginaw Valley managed to get even closer at 5-3 as Wiechmann singled to lead off the inning before scoring on a Brad Schalk (Madison Heights, Mich./Bishop Foley HS) fielder's choice RBI.
In the top of the seventh, Potts picked up an RBI as he was hit by the pitch with the bases loaded and no outs to score Perkovich, who singled to start the inning. That was followed up by a walk on four pitches as Wiechmann picked up an RBI to score Chet LaFave (Charlotte, Mich./Olney Central College) to tie up the contest at 5-5.
The Cardinals would take a 6-5 lead as Orr recorded a sacrifice fly to center field to score Michael Craig (Milan, Mich.), who reached on a bunt earlier in the seventh inning.
However, Ashland would rally in the bottom half of the seventh and force the game into extra innings at 6-6.
After SVSU went one-two-three in the top half of the eighth inning, the Eagles rallied with three straight base hits to score the game-winning run and take the 7-6 victory.
SVSU will try to get back on track next weekend (Apr. 21-22) as they play host to Ohio Dominican University for a weekend series.