University Center, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team had a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) doubleheader against Wayne State University Saturday afternoon. After narrowly losing game one 5-3, they took game two 4-3 with the help of a three-run home run in the eighth inning.
SVSU (20-18, 11-9) got good performances from Tucker Roe, Martin Money, and Reed Raymond. All of whom had multiple hits in either game one or two of the doubleheader. Also, Austin Schweiger had two hits on the day split between both games, with the biggest one being the go ahead home run in the eighth inning of the second contest.
Game one started with an excellent pitching performance from Hunter Merillat. He pitched six innings allowing three runs, two earned, while striking out 11, tying a career high.
The Cardinals got the early lead in the seven-inning game with two runs in the second. After a Raymond double, Jeffrey Reseigh singled on a bunt and a throwing error allowed him to reach second and allowed Raymond to score. Roe singled later in the inning to score Reseigh and put SVSU up 2-0.
Wayne State (29-8, 16-7) was shut down for four innings by Merillat before cracking the scoreboard in the fifth. Two runs of their own tied the game up before Saginaw Valley tallied another one in the bottom half of the inning. Roe led of with a triple and touched home two batters later on an RBI ground out for Colin Cornwell.
The Warriors would tie the game up again in the sixth with a single run to make it 3-3. Reed Raymond (L, 0-1) took over in the seventh and allowed two runs and struck out one in the one inning of work. Wayne State took a 5-3 lead and their starter Karter Fitzpatrick (W, 7-1) shut the Cardinals down in the bottom of the seventh to earn the complete game win.
Game two started off on the wrong foot for SVSU. Wayne State took a two-run lead in the top of the first and their starter Seth Marano (L, 4-1) had a perfect game going through 4 1/3 innings. Cardinal starter Ryan Adams had four scoreless to end his outing after allowing the two runs, only one earned, in the first. He finished with two punch outs before handing the ball off to JJ Arbini (W, 2-2). Arbini continued the scoreless streak until the seventh. Both teams tallied one run. Ethan Dufresne drove in Money with an RBI sacrifice fly to make it 3-1 Warriors.
In the eighth, Connor McClennen doubled, then Roe walked, and Jaccar Watkins put down a sacrifice bunt to move them both into scoring position with only one out. That's when Schweiger stepped up and delivered the biggest swing of the day. His fifth home run of the season gave the Cardinals a 4-3 lead. Money nearly went back-to-back home runs on back-to-back pitches as he hit one off the top of the fence immediately after Schweiger's left the park.
Arbini finished the long relief appearance with a strikeout, a walk, and a double play to earn the win. He pitched four innings allowing one run and striking out three with five hits against.
UP NEXT
Saginaw Valley has a chance to split the weekend against the seventh-place team in the nation in Wayne State with the series finale on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.