UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball program hosted Purdue Northwest for its final game of the 2025 regular season. The Cardinals (29-20, 11-13 GLIAC) earned a 4-2 win over the Pride (17-27, 5-19 GLIAC), finishing fifth in the conference and ending PNW's season, as they placed seventh. Jake Shelagowski (Sv, 11) recorded his 11th save of the year, setting a new single-season program record.
SVSU received multi-hit performances from Ryan Jarvis, Austin Cicerone, Lucas Mead, and Grant Richardson. Richardson led the offense with two RBI and contributed one of the Cardinals' three doubles. The pitching staff utilized seven arms, beginning with an opener outing from Ryan Adams. He went 1.1 innings, walking two and striking out three. Carter Woody, Drew Cooper (W, 1-0), Daniel Wilcome, Ben Kochany, and Shelagowski all threw scoreless outings, while Brady Baalaer allowed two runs—one earned—over three innings of work.
The weekend trend of the team scoring first ultimately losing held true again Sunday, as Purdue Northwest struck first in the third inning. Richardson tied it in the bottom of the fourth with a sacrifice fly to score Cicerone. The Pride quickly regained the lead in the fifth with an RBI sacrifice fly of their own, making it 2-1.
Saginaw Valley responded in the bottom of the sixth. Mead tied the game with an RBI sac fly that brought home Jarvis. Then, with two outs, Jordan Lewis doubled to extend the inning, and Richardson followed with an RBI single to right, giving SVSU a 3-2 lead. The Cardinals added an insurance run in the seventh, again with two outs. Singles from Ethan Scheib and Jarvis set up runners at the corners, and Cicerone hit a hard ground ball that was mishandled at third base, allowing Scheib to score and extend the lead to 4-2.
The Pride managed just one baserunner via error over the final two innings, as the SVSU pitching staff limited them to four hits and three walks while striking out six over the course of nine innings. Kochany preserved the lead in the eighth, setting up Shelagowski for his record-setting save. He delivered a perfect ninth, recording a strikeout and securing the final out by covering first base on a ground ball to Jarvis.
Up Next: Saginaw Valley baseball heads to Jackson Field in Lansing, Michigan, on Thursday, May 8, to begin GLIAC Tournament play. The Cardinals will face the second-seeded Grand Valley State Lakers.