Caledonia, Mich. – Saginaw Valley State University continued their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) baseball weekend with a doubleheader against Davenport University on Sunday. SVSU (12-14, 4-5) dropped both games to DU (12-17, 6-3) with final scores of 8-6 and 14-8.
The Cardinals got on the board first in game one, a seven-inning affair, with a three spot in the top of the second. Reed Raymond singled, Jeffrey Reseigh walked, and Brandon Scheurer singled Raymond home for the first run of the game. Both Reseigh and Scheurer moved into scoring position on the play and were both singled home by Logan Welch on the next at-bat making it 3-0.
Saginaw Valley starter Hunter Merillat (L, 3-1) started strong with three scoreless innings before giving up three in the fourth to tie the game, and then three more to start the fifth making it 6-3. Merillat finished with four innings pitched with six runs against on three hits and eight walks. He struck out five batters. Bastian took over with the bases loaded in the fifth and had one more run against making it a four-run game. The Panthers would add one more in the sixth on an error making it 8-3.
Davenport starter James Kohl (W, 3-4) allowed the first three runs against through his five innings putting him in line for the win before departing in the sixth. The SVSU offense started a comeback in the seventh when they got two on with two outs. Austin Schweiger singled home a run to make it 8-4 before Raymond singled to load the bases. Back-to-back walks afterwards scored two more runs bring the game within two before the final out was recorded.
Game two started heavily in favor of Davenport. Jared Schwartz (W, 1-2) started with four scoreless innings for Davenport and got run support instantly. Steven Hecht (L, 0-3) worked three innings for the Cardinals in his start. He had five runs against with one in the first, three in the second, and the last in the third before departing.
Drew Cooper entered in the fourth and could not record an out before giving way to Christopher Schmees. The Panthers added put up a five spot in the fourth to extend their lead to double digits. Schmees worked the long relief role pitching 4 2/3 innings before Matt Montroy recorded an out to end the eighth.
The Cardinals had another late push in game two. Two walks and a single loaded the bases in the fifth before Colin Cornwell doubled all of them home to make it 10-3. In the sixth, Brendan Conkle had a two RBI single scoring Connor Cornwell and Raymond. Then, Brandon Scheurer had a two RBI single of his own in the seventh scoring Raymond and Martin Money to make it a 10-7 game.
Davenport would post two runs in the seventh and eighth for insurance before Saginaw Valley scored their final run in the ninth.
Reed Raymond finished 3-for-5 with three walks on the day. Logan Welch had two walks to add to his 3-for-6 day as well.
UP NEXT
SVSU heads back over to Caledonia this week with a four-game GLIAC series against Davenport University starting Thursday. A 4:00 p.m. first pitch to start the series before a doubleheader Friday and a single game Saturday before Easter weekend.