UNIVERSITY CENTER, MICH. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team defeated Parkside 13-1 in game one of the final GLIAC regular season series to earn the conference regular season championship outright. The game saw a 74-minute rain delay in the bottom half of the first inning, but the Cardinals (33-13, 20-7 GLIAC) continued to roll to the win.
Tyler McLaren (W, 5-4) got the start and earned the win with 5.2 innings of work. The senior struck out five Rangers and allowed five hits in five scoreless innings to get the win on the bump. Matt Montroy, Chase Gruno, Carson Bassett, and Christopher Schmees all saw time on the mound for SVSU. Gruno registered his 62nd appearance and took sole ownership of the career mark in that category with his 1.0 inning showing. Bassett had the most effective shift in relief as he retired three on strikes and allowed just one hit.
Hayden Jatczak got things going for the Cardinals with a single to left field to get on base early. Austin Schweiger then singled to left field to put runners on first and second. Both would move on a wild pitch and a walk by Reed Raymond would load the bases as the rain hammered down and begin the weather delay.
Coming out of the break, Jeff Reseigh walked to put the first run on the board for SVSU. Logan Welch then singled to left field to score Raymond and Schweiger and the score sat at 3-0 after one inning of play.
Jatczak put a run on the board in the second with a single to right field that brought Connor McClennen home. McClennen brought two more runs home in the bottom of the third with a two-out single up the middle that scored Jaccar Watkins and Welch. Schweiger would triple to right in the fourth inning to score Colin Cornwell. Raymond would double to right center on the next play to score Schweiger and SVSU led 8-0 after four innings.
A run scored on a fielder's choice, a groundout in the bottom of the fifth inning, and pushed the advantage to 9-0. Reseigh and Watkins would both single in the sixth to bring a run home and SVSU built an 11-0 advantage.
The Rangers got a run across in the seventh inning on a bases-loaded groundout putting the score at 11-1.
The final two runs of the game came from Watkins on a single to center field that scored Reseigh and Cam Steeves.
Watkins had the hot bat on the afternoon as he went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored to lead the Cardinals in scoring. Welch went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run for his stat line. Jatczak had two hits in his five at-bats with two RBI and a run. Schweiger also finished with two hits and one run. Raymond was 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs. Raymond was the only SVSU hitter with two doubles.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will remain at home with a doubleheader against Parkside beginning at 1:00 PM EST tomorrow (May 4).