NORTH CANTON, Ohio - The SVSU baseball team posted a GLIAC sweep over Walsh University on Saturday (May 2). The Cardinals posted an opening 19-0 victory in game one over the Cavaliers before claiming the second game by a 7-4 count.
Game One
SVSU scored four quick runs in the top of the first inning to grab the 4-0 advantage. A two-RBI single from Kyle Kaufmann plated Brad Schalk and Chris Perkovich. A Luke Valutis sacrifice fly would score Chad Carson and Kaufmann would cross the plate as well after an error by the Walsh third baseman.
The Cards added two more runs in the top of the third, moving the lead out to 6-0. Pete Baumgartner ripped a two-RBI double that scored Kaufmann and Richard Guglielmi for the runs.
Saginaw tacked-on another three in the top of the fifth, making the score 9-0. Those runs came via a Perkovich infield single that scored Valutis and a Schalk two-RBI single that plated Baumgartner and Brendan Harrison.
The Cardinals then went nuts in the sixth inning, using 11 hits to score 10 runs and make the advantage 19-0.
There was plenty of run support for starter Clayton Spiker, who notched his first Cardinal victory after working 5.0 innings of shutout ball. He allowed just four hits and struck-out three batters. Jeff Schalk worked the final two innings, shutting down the Cavs and keeping them scoreless.
SVSU had a season-best 21 hits in the game, 19 of those singles. The two extra-base hits came on doubles from Baumgartner and Kaufmann. Kaufmann and Perkovich each had a four-hit game with three RBIs. Kaufmann scored three times and Perkovich twice. Brad Schalk had three hits, three RBIs and a run while Valutis had three hits, three runs scored and two RBIs. Baumgartner had two hits, two RBIs and two runs as well and Carson had two hits, two runs and an RBI.
Game Two
Saginaw Valley scored a single run in the top of the first inning when a Carson single brought home Perkovich with the game's first run for the 1-0 Cardinal lead.
The visitors added another in the top of the third, with Carson driving home another run on a sac fly that scored Dylin Eschenburg.
An RBI single from Harrison, followed by an RBI infield single from Perkovich and a bases-loaded walk to Brad Schalk, gave the Cardinals a 5-0 edge in the top of the fourth inning.
The Cavaliers added single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, respectively, to trim the lead to 5-3.
Carson once again came through in the top of the eights, ripping a two-RBI single to make the lead 7-3.
Walsh got another run in the bottom of the ninth inning to cut the deficit to 7-4. That's where the final score would stand, as SVSU completed the Saturday sweep.
Micthell Lumley (2-3) got the victory after pitching 5.2 innings and allowing three runs on seven hits, posting two strikeouts. Andrew Tidwell and Jeff Schalk each pitched shutout ball in relief of Lumley in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. Schalk now has a stellar 1.66 ERA in his 38.0 innings pitched for 2015, appearing in 17 games.
The Cardinals had another 14 hits in the nightcap, two from Carson with four RBIs and another three hits from Perkovich. Guglielmi, Harrison and Eschenburg each added multiple hits in the second game as well.
Saginaw Valley improves its record to 20-18-1 overall on the season with a 14-15-1 mark in the GLIAC. That Cards were officially eliminated from GLIAC postseason contention following victories Saturday by Northwood and Ohio Dominican.