HAMMOND, Ind. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball program took one of two games on Saturday against Purdue Northwest. The Cardinals (27-12, 15-6 GLIAC) won 2-0 and lost 9-6 against the Pride (17-19, 7-14 GLIAC). SVSU holds a 3-2 season series lead with one game remaining against PNW.
The pitching staff allowed no runs on four hits in game one and nine runs on 13 hits in game two. The lineup tallied 17 hits over both games and scored eight runs. Colin Cornwell went 4-for-6 with two walks. Reed Raymond and Lucas Mead both got two hits in game two. Hayden Jatczak had a single in both games to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.
The Cardinals scored first in game one with two runs in the top of the first. Austin Schweiger doubled home Jatczak to make it 1-0. R. Raymond drove in Col. Cornwell on a sacrifice fly to double the SVSU lead.
Chase Raymond (W, 7-1) started on the mound for SVSU. He pitched six of the seven innings allowing four hits and four walks but struck out 11 batters. R. Raymond (Sv, 3) pitched the seventh and faced one above the minimum allowing one walk. Both runs for Saginaw Valley were scored against Pride starter Conor Pangburn (L, 3-3) who pitched three innings allowing two runs on three hits and a walk.
SVSU started game two the same way with two runs in the first. Schweiger drove in Jatczak on a sacrifice fly and R. Raymond reached on an error which scored Col. Cornwell to make it 2-0. The Pride responded with a two-run double in the second to tie the game. Connor Cornwell doubled in the fourth to give the Cardinals a one-run lead again before it was tied 3-3 in the bottom half of the inning.
PNW broke out against Steven Hecht (L, 3-2) in the fifth with four runs. Hecht pitched five innings allowing seven runs on 11 hits and one walk while striking out two. The 7-3 lead for Purdue Northwest proved to be enough earning their starter Blake Newell (W, 2-2) the win. Newell pitched five innings allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits and two walks.
Nick Bastian pitched two innings in relief for SVSU allowing one run on one hit and two walks while punching out one batter. Jake Shelagowski recorded an out while allowing one run on one hit and two walks before Matt Montroy finished the eighth inning retiring the two batters he faced.
The Cardinals scored three in the eighth with Connor McClennen singling home R. Raymond before Jatczak singled home Cam Steeves and Mead to make it 8-6 Pride. PNW scored one more in the bottom of the inning to give them a three-run lead. Andrew Petsche (Sv, 9) pitched the ninth allowing one hit in his scoreless inning of work.
Saginaw Valley baseball leads the GLIAC standings. With the win, the Cardinals have tied the number of wins from 2023. They look to improve on last year's season which was the most wins for the program since 2008. SVSU wraps up the series with Purdue Northwest on Sunday with first pitch at 2:00 PM EST.