TRAVERSE CITY -- The Cardinal Baseball team made a deep run through the 2019 GLIAC Baseball Tournament, advancing all the way to the championships game where SVSU faced-off with #11 Ashland University. After defeating Davenport 12-8 earlier in the day to advance to the title game, the Cardinals fought hard but dropped the finale by a final score of 8-2.
It was Saginaw Valley's first time in the GLIAC Tournament final game since the 2003 season, as the Cards posted three victories on the weekend to advance to Sunday's championship matchup.
Game 1 - Davenport (W, 12-8)
The Cardinasl scored six runs in the top of the 1st only to be answered by five from the Panthers to make the score 6-5 after one inning of action.
Saginaw Valley then added two runs in the 2nd and one in the 4th, pushing its lead to 9-5.
The Panthers scored two in the 6th to make it 9-7 but another pair from the Cardinals in the 8th made the score 11-7.
A run in the 9th from SVSU was answered by one in the bottom for Davenport, but the 12-8 count remained in Saginaw Valley's favor and the Cardinals advanced to the title game versus Ashland with the 12-8 win.
Jordan Swiss had a three hits with a double, RBI run and walk in Sunday's opener. Andrew Burke had three hits with two doubles and an RBI. Anthony Kania, Thomas Loftus, Austin Koin, Craig Wilson and Adam Turner all had two hits in the game as well. Turner had a home run while Wilson, Loftus and Kania all added two RBI. Collin Winters added one hit and scored twice.
Eric Fritz (2-0) picked up the victory in 5.2 innings of relief. He allowed two runs on eight hits with a walk and strikeout.
Game 2 - Ashland (L, 8-2)
The Cardinals got out to a 2-0 lead in the title game, using a Turner RBI double in the 3rd and a Swiss RBI on a fielder's choice in the 4th.
Ashland scored two in the home half of the 4th to tie the game at 2-2 and the game remained tied until the bottom of the 6th.
That's when the Eagles got three more, scoring one run and another pair with two outs to take a 5-2 lead.
Ashland would add three more in the 8th to put the score at 8-2, which is where it remained as they claimed the tournament championship.
Turner had two hits with a double, walk and RBI while Wilson added another pair of hits. Loftus, Kania, Burke, Winters and Derrek Clyde all added a hit in the final contest as well.
Camden Dice got the start, going 3.2 innings and allowing two runs on four hits with a strikeout and walk. Alex Millhisler (0-3) took the loss in relief, allowing two runs in 1.2 innings. He struck out two batters and walked one.
Up Next...
SVSU's season is complete with a 21-29-1 overall record. Derrek Clyde, Craig Wilson, Adam Turner, Jordan Swiss and Ravi Mahanti all graduate as the 2019 SVSU Baseball Senior Class and we would like to thank them for their dedication and efforts!!
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Postgame Interview - Steve Jaksa