UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team dropped a long, 12-inning contest on Senior Day against Tiffin University today (May 5) by a final tally of 6-5.
Prior to the contest, a ceremony was held to acknowledge the accomplishments of six SVSU baseball seniors: Andy Orr (Utica, Mich.), Mike Schaaf (Saginaw, Mich. / Arthur Hill), Carson Beauchaine (Fraser, Mich.), Justin Drzewicki (Bay City, Mich. / Central), Chet LaFave (Charlotte, Mich.) and Kyle O'Boyle (Midland, Mich. / Bullock Creek). Congratulations to our seniors on all their hard work and determination throughout their time at Saginaw Valley!
After the Dragons (19-28, 13-18 GLIAC) took a 1-0 advantage in the second inning, the Cardinals (16-22, 14-14 GLIAC) responded by posting a four-spot in the bottom half of the fourth inning to take the lead. Consecutive doubles off the bats of senior Kyle O'Boyle and junior Dennis Kan (Petoskey, Mich.) gave SVSU a 3-1 edge with Kan's two-bagger bring home two Cardinals.
The next batter was Michael Craig (Milan, Mich.) who drove an 0-1 pitch through the middle of the drawn in Dragon infield scoring Kan from third for the 4-1 advantage.
Tiffin battled back in the top of the seventh by manufacturing three runs to knot up the contest at 4-4.
The contest remained scoreless over the next four inning as the Cardinals and Dragons went into extra innings. Tiffin plated two in the top half of the 12th before the Cardinals attempted one last comeback.
With SVSU down to their last out, Luke Valutis (Shelby Township, Mich. / Utica Eisenhower) picked up his first career hit and RBI with a double down the left field line to score Brad Schalk bringing Saginaw Valley within one, 6-5. The next batter, Brendon Hayes (Livonia, Mich. / Stevenson) hit a slicer to left field, but the Dragon defender made a sensational grab to end the ball game.
On the day, Karl Kling's pitching staff featured nine guys and 11 strikeouts against the Dragons, with six hurlers recording at least one scoreless frame. Shane Cochran (Shelby Township, Mich. / Utica Eisenhower) struck out the side in the sixth inning, while Justin Drzewicki totalled four strikeouts in three scoreless innings on 58 pitches.
Senior Andy Orr led the SVSU offense with three hits in his last game inside the friendly confines of the SVSU Baseball Compex, while Kyle O'Boyle added a pair of base hits, including a double for an RBI. Freshman Jason Hanson (Harbor Beach, Mich.) also recorded his first hit of his young Cardinal career in the 10th inning.
With the regular season now complete, SVSU has locked up the No. 5 seed in the upcoming 2013 GLIAC Tournament with their 14-14 conference record and will play No. 2 seeded Wayne State University (31-16, 21-10 GLIAC) on Wednesday (May 8) in Ypsilanti as Eastern Michigan University is the new host of conference tournament. This marks the fourth consecutive season the Cardinals will compete in the conference tournament.
Stay tuned to SVSUCardinals.com and @SVSUAthletics on Twitter for the to-be-determined time of Wednesday's GLIAC Tournament match-up against the Warriors.