ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State Baseball team took on GLIAC rivals, Grand Valley State, in the first matchup of the four-game-series. The Cardinals pounded in 10 runs in game one to take the victory 10-7 over the Lakers heading to a 1-0 lead in the series.
This was the first GLIAC win since Mar. 30 when SVSU defeated Davenport University, 6-2. The Cardinals now head to a 5-15 record in conference, 20-21 overall.
Inside the Game:
Even though GV opened up the contest with one unearned run in the bottom of the first inning, Saginaw Valley started to swing in the top of the fourth.
The five-run-inning started out with Collin Winters RBI double, scoring Jordan Swiss to tie up the game 1-1.
Quincy Jones the responded with a RBI single to right field, plating Winters. Todd Paperd then sent Jones and Adam Fitzgibbon home with his single up the middle.
Following the two-run-single, Gerrit Eding reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on the throw. Cole Brooks then advanced to third, scored on an error by first baseman, unearned. The Cardinals headed into the bottom of the fourth leading 5-1 over the Lakers.
Grand Valley could not stop Saginaw Valley again in the top of the fifth when they plated Swiss from Jones double down the right field line. SVSU then pushed the deficit for GVSU to five runs, leading 6-1.
A three-run-homer and a RBI single cut the Saginaw Valley lead to one (6-5) against Grand Valley State heading into the top of the seventh inning.
The Cardinals stretched the lead back out 7-5 when Jones sent a sac fly scoring Swiss in the top of the seventh inning.
A Laker member tripled in the bottom of the eighth to knot the score back up 7-7. Although, this would end up being the final count for Grand Valley State.
In the top of the ninth, Winters doubled to right field, scoring teammate Derrek Clyde. Dean Marais then sent an RBI single, scoring Swiss. Winters then scored on a passed ball, unearned, to finalize the score at 10-7, with SVSU taking the victory.
Eric Fritz (W, 2-1) took his second win on the year, while Caleb Somerville (Sv, 1) got his first save of his collegiate season, striking out one batter.
Amani Godfrey worked majority of the contest for the Cardinals, pitching seven innings, striking out nine, walking two and allowed only a solo earned run.
Brendan Nearing (L, 0-1) took the loss for Grand Valley after working one inning and allowed three runs, two earned.
From Interim Head Coach Clay VanderLaan
"The resiliency these boys showed today is amazing. Coming off of the tough stretch that we've gone through and heading into Allendale to face a quality Grand Valley club is a mentally challenging scenario. So to come out and take the first game of the series shows what kind of makeup they have."
Up Next...
The Cardinals will continue play in Allendale Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader against the Lakers beginning at 1 p.m. Watch live on ESPN3 and follow live stats at the link found on the svsu baseball schedule page.
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