HILLSDALE, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball program exploded for an eight-run sixth inning to topple Hillsdale 12-5. The Cardinals (23-9, 11-3 GLIAC) trailed early but the huge inning gave them the 2-1 season series win against the Chargers (12-18, 7-6 GMAC). Buck Snabes hit his second career home run, a three-run bomb, to give SVSU the lead and they never trailed afterwards.
Saginaw Valley was led offensively by Colin Cornwell who went 3-for-5 with three doubles while Reed Raymond also had a three-hit performance. Snabes went 2-for-4 on the day with the aforementioned home run and a double, both in the sixth inning. Austin Schweiger picked up a single to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Brandon Scheurer also got a knock to give himself a seven-game hitting streak. The Cardinals threw seven pitchers with all but two put up zeros in the run column.
Col. Cornwell opened the scoring in the first with an RBI double that scored Schuerer and gave SVSU the 1-0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, two baserunners came home on a three-run home run by Jeff Landis to give the Chargers a 3-1 lead. R. Raymond cut that lead in half in the top of third with another RBI double.
Schmees pitched two innings allowing three runs on three hits and two walks and gave way to Jake Shelagowski in the third. He allowed one hit and a walk while striking out three in his scoreless two innings. Matt Montroy (W, 1-0) pitched one inning allowing two hits and earned his first career win after the Cardinals stormed ahead with the eight runs in the sixth.
It started with singles by Schweiger and R. Raymond which forced the Chargers starting pitcher, Luke Miller (L, 0-3) out of the game. Hayden Hoffpauir entered and Snabes homered to left center to give SVSU the 5-3 lead. Three walks loaded the bases and a wild pitch scored Steven Getts to extended the lead. Col. Cornwell hit his second run scoring double two batters later to score Scheurer and Watkins to make it 8-3. With two runners in scoring position, R. Raymond singled again and drove home both to give the Cardinals a seven-run led.
Ethan Marshall took over for Montroy after a lead off single in the sixth. Marshall made his Cardinal debut on the mound and struck out the only batter he faced before giving way to Chase Gruno. Gruno went 1.2 innings allowing two hits and two walks while striking out two as well. SVSU got their final two runs in the top of the seventh with a two-RBI single by Hayden Jatczak to make it 12-3. Afterwards, Ryan Adams took the mound gave up one hit while striking out two in his scoreless eighth inning. Derek Slocum was the final pitcher for SVSU and he gave up two runs in the ninth on two hits and a walk while striking out one and finishing off the 12-5 victory.
The Cardinals get back into GLIAC play as they host the Davenport Panthers with a four-game series starting Friday, April 12. First pitch is set for 3:00 PM.