UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The SVSU baseball team got two GLIAC wins today (March 26) against Hillsdale College, 7-6, and a nail-biting, eight-inning thriller, 3-2, as the Cardinals have now won four of their last five games.

Game 1
The Cardinals came out swinging in the opener as they were able to get four runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning, as lead-off hitter junior Kevin Dore (Bay City, Mich.) legged out a single to second base, followed by junior Andy Ferraiuolo (Perry, Mich.) reached on a Hillsdale throwing error that allowed Dore to speed around second to safely reach third base. When junior Charlie Thomas (Northville, Mich.) stepped up to the plate, all he needed to do was slap the ball anywhere in the diamond to drive Dore home. The pitch came, and Thomas smacked a single to right center field, advancing Ferriauolo all the way to third base, while Dore sped across home plate knotting the score 1-1 with nobody out. Clean-up hitter junior Ryan Webber (Clio, Mich.), who entering today’s games was hitting above .400. clocked an RBI single through the right side, moving Thomas to second as Ferraiuolo scored giving the Cardinals the lead. After Thomas was picked off for the first out of the inning, junior Josh Peterson (Midland, Mich.) drew a walk, putting runners on second and third, for freshman Mike VanAlst (Clio, Mich.), who promptly double to left-center field, scoring two more runs, giving SVSU the early lead, 4-1.

Saginaw Valley would add two more runs in the bottom of the second, as freshman Jason Potts (Hartland, Mich.) drew a walk to lead off, followed by senior Kevin Schwedler (Midland, Mich.) getting hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second, giving the Cardinals the chance to lay down the perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners up. Dore had that job, and didn’t make a mistake as he laid down a bunt where the only play Hillsdale could make was to first base for the first out of the inning. With runners on second and third, Ferraiuolo drew a walk to load the bases for Thomas, who got on after being hit by a pitch, forcing Potts to cross the plate. Webber then reached on a fielder’s choice, as Schwedler scored, while Ferraiuolo was forced out at third. Heading into the third inning, the Cards took a commanding 6-2 lead.

Hillsdale would close the gap by posting three runs in the top of third inning, leaving the Cardinals with a 6-5 advantage.

SVSU would add one more in the bottom of the fourth inning as Dore got the bats going by hitting a one-out double to left-center field, followed by a Ferraiuolo ground out that advanced Dore to third, as Thomas ripped a single to third base, driving Dore home.

The Chargers would get one more run in the top of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough as SVSU went on to win, 7-6.

Splitting the duty on the mound was junior Kevin Kerner (Richmond, Mich.) who threw three innings, and Colin Coulter (Clio, Mich.) who took the reigns and finished the game for the Cardinals.

Game 2
The Cardinals would get on the board in the bottom of the second inning as Webber would lead off with a double, and advance to third on a throwing error, with Peterson up next to hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Webber.

And then, the bats would calm for four innings as neither team was able to get a run in until Hillsdale scored in the top half of the seventh, taking a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

With their backs against the wall, VanAlst stepped to the plate and drove a single right-center. Freshman Nick Galina (Troy, Mich.) stepped in to pinch run for VanAlst as sophomore Dustin Mayner (Gainse, Mich.) stepped to the plate to lay down a sacrifice bunt to move the speedster Galina to second base as freshman Dan Norton (Grand Rapids, Mich.) ripped a double to right-center field, scoring Galina, and knotting the score, 2-2 as the game headed for extra innings.

The Cardinal defense put the Chargers down in the top of the eighth with only one runner getting on base.

Leading off the SVSU half of the inning, freshman Ryan Ermers (Utica, Mich.) singled to right field, as Thomas stepped in to hit a sacrifice bunt to move Ermers into scoring position. Next up, Webber was intentionally walked to give the Cards runners at first and second with one out. Peterson stepped to the plate, and drove a single to left field, scoring Ermers, and ending the game with the Cardinals on top, 3-2.

On the mound for SVSU, junior Jon Tibaudo (Harper Woods, Mich.) would throw seven innings, and allow nine hits while fanning seven, while sophomore Scott Horman (St. Louis, Mich.) threw one inning allowing one hit, while striking out one.

The wins gives SVSU an overall record of 7-12, and 4-3 in the GLIAC, while Hillsdale falls to 7-11 overall, and 0-5 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals will be back in action for a double-header on Saturday (March 28) and a nine-inning game Sunday (March 29) as the No. 2 team in the GLIAC, Ashland University, comes to Cardinal Country.