UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team swept Ohio Dominican University today (Apr. 21) by scores of 3-1 and 1-0. The sweep improves the Cardinals record to 17-17 on the season and 13-9 in the GLIAC, while the Panthers fall to 18-18 on the season and 10-12 in the conference.
Game 1
The contest remained scoreless as starting pitchers Mike Saunders (Mt. Morris, Mich./E.A. Johnson HS) and Austin Beuter battled pitching five scoreless innings each to start the contest.
Ohio Domincan broke the tie with one run on one hit in the sixth inning to give the Panthers a 1-0 edge.
However, the Cardinals bounced back in the bottom half of the frame as they pushed across three runs on three hits.
Saginaw Valley put their first run on the board as Kyle O'Boyle (Midland, Mich./Bullock Creek HS) scored on a throwing error after an Eric Burt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) fielder's choice. O'Boyle led off the inning with an infield single.
Chet LaFave (Charlotte, Mich./Olney Central College) gave the Cardinals the 2-1 lead after an RBI groundout which brought home Mike VanAlst (Clio, Mich.), who singled through the right side earlier in the inning.
The Cardinals would push across their third and final run of the contest as Brad Schalk (Madison Heights, Mich./Bishop Foley HS) reached on a fielder's choice to score Burt to push the SVSU lead to 3-1 after six innings of action.
Ohio Dominican was unable to forge a comeback in the top of the seventh as the Cardinals took the 3-1 victory.
Saunders threw a complete-game, three hitter allowing just one run and striking out six Panthers. With the win, Saunders picks up his fifth of the season and lowers his ERA to 1.46 on the season, which is second best in the conference.
Chris Perkovich (Canton, Mich.) led the Cardinals offense with two hits in the win.
Game 2
The Cardinals got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI single to right center field from Matt Hunt (Howell, Mich./Concordia University) which plated Perkovich to give SVSU the 1-0 edge. The Hunt RBI was the game-winning hit as it was the only run of game two.
Saginaw Valley starting pitcher Carson Beauchaine (Fraser, Mich.) threw a gem on the mound for the Cardinals and he picked up the shutout victory. Beauchaine recorded his fifth complete game of the season as he gave up seven hits while striking out six batters. Carson picked up his third win of the season as he had to stave off a Panther rally in the top of the seventh to preserve the victory. He lowers his ERA to 1.85 good enough for fourth in the GLIAC.
Andy Orr (Utica, Mich.), Hunt, VanAlst, LaFave and Perkovich all tallied one hit a piece in game two.
The SVSU baseball squad will return to action tomorrow with a doubleheader against Ohio Dominican starting with game one at noon.