UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team split with Wayne State University today (May 2). The Cardinals dropped game one in eight innings, 3-2, before getting a big 10-6 victory in game two. The Cardinals move to 23-21 and 19-13 in the GLIAC, while the Warriors move to 27-16 overall and 18-12 in the conference.
Game 1
Andy Orr (Utica, Mich.) started the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with a two-out home run deep over the right field fence. The home run was his second in as many games and gave SVSU a 1-0 edge.
The Warriors answered back in the top half of the second with a two-RBI double with two outs to take a 2-1 lead.
The Cardinals managed to tie up the ballgame in the bottom of the fourth with one run on two hits. Mike VanAlst (Clio, Mich.) picked up the game-tying RBI with a single to right center to plate Brad Schalk (Sterling Heights, Mich./Bishop Foley HS) and knot the contest at 2-2.
SVSU threatened to score in the bottom of the seventh as they loaded the bases with one out but were unable to scoring the winning run as the teams headed into extra innings.
Wayne State rallied in the top of the eighth inning and scored the game-winning run on a deep sacrifice fly to right field for the 3-2 lead. The Cardinals did not score in their last at-bat and fell by the same score.
Starting pitcher Andrew Tidwell (Canton, Mich.) threw five strong innings allowing two runs on six hits while striking out two batters. Justin Drzewicki (Bay City, Mich./Central HS) was the pitcher of record for the Cardinals as he came on in relief.
Chris Perkovich (Canton, Mich.) and Chet LaFave (Charlotte, Mich./Olney Central College) led the Cardinal offense with two hits apiece.
Game 2
Wayne State jumped on the scoreboard first in the top of the second inning with a two-run home run to left field to take an early 2-0 lead.
The Cardinals answered back in the bottom of the second with a solo home run off the bat of Cam Wiechmann (Birch Run, Mich./Muskegon CC), his team-leading third homer of the season.
The rally continued in the second as Ryan Ermers (Sterling Heights, Mich./Henry Ford II HS), VanAlst and Perkovich each recorded singles in consecutive at-bats. The Perkovich base hit scored Ermers and LaFave, who reached on a walk earlier in the frame to give SVSU the 3-2 advantage.
Saginaw Valley would tack on two more runs in the second inning thanks to a Matt Hunt (Howell, Mich./Concordia University) RBI groundout plating VanAlst before Brandon Schwanz (Novi, Mich./Henry Ford CC) singled through the left side to bring home Perkovich. The Cardinal rally scored five runs on six hits as SVSU took a 5-2 lead.
The Cardinal offense would push their lead to 7-2 in the third inning as VanAlst connected for a long two-run home run over the right field fence. The deep fly scored LaFave who doubled to leadoff the inning.
Wayne State kept the high-scoring affair going as they plated three runs on four hits in the top of the fourth inning to cut the SVSU lead to 7-5.
SVSU kept their hot streak going in the fourth with three runs on two hits and some help from two Wayne State errors.
Perkovich came through in a big spot with two outs as he singled up the middle with the bases loaded to score LaFave and Wiechmann and give the Cardinals a 10-5 advantage.
The Warriors would manage to score just one more run the rest of the way as the Cardinals picked up the 10-6 victory.
Scott Sency (Medina, Ohio) got the start on the mound for the Cardinals as he threw three innings giving up five runs with one strikeout. Jeff Schalk (Sterling Heights, Mich./Bishop Foley HS) picked up the win in relief as he threw 1.2 innings. Aaron Woods (Menominee, Mich./Minnesota Duluth) notched his first save of the season pitching 2.1 innings to finish out the game without allowing a hit.
VanAlst led the hit parade in game two as he went 3-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored. Perkovich added two hits and four RBI, while Orr and Wiechmann also posted two hits apiece.
Saginaw Valley will close out the regular season this weekend with a four-game series at Tiffin University.