KENOSHA, Wis. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball program wrapped up their first four Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games with a doubleheader sweep over the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Monday afternoon. The Cardinals (14-6, 3-1 GLIAC) won both with scores of 14-6 and 27-4 against the Rangers (11-11, 0-4 GLIAC).
SVSU totaled 41 runs on 36 hits with nearly every starter getting multiple hits in game two. Connor McClennen went 6-for-8 on the day with a walk and Brady Carpenter totaled the most hits going 7-for-9 with two walks as well. Carpenter, Hayden Jatczak, and Reed Raymond all had five RBI over both games for the team lead on the day. Cardinal pitching got wins by both starters and 16 combined strikeouts over both games.
Parkside snagged the lead in the first inning of game one with an RBI double. The Cardinals quickly took that lead away in the second and third innings. A Carpenter RBI single tied the game in the second before Austin Schweiger drove home Jatczak with a single and Raymond scored Colin Cornwell on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1 SVSU. Another RBI double for the Rangers in the third cut the lead to one before a three-spot for Saginaw Valley in the fourth. Two runs on a Col. Cornwell double and another sacrifice fly by Raymond made it 6-2.
Chase Raymond (W, 4-0) started on the mound and went four innings allowing six runs, only two earned, on eight hits and struck out four. C. Raymond had all four unearned runs score in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game 6-6. The Cardinals put up five in the fifth to take a commanding lead again. Jatczak walked home a run, Schweiger got hit by a pitch to score McClennen, and then R. Raymond singled home two with an error scoring the third run to make it 11-6.
Chase Gruno pitched the fifth allowing one hit before R. Raymond took over for the final two innings striking out four as he faced the minimum down the final stretch. Peter Fusek (L, 1-1) got the loss for Parkside going 2.1 innings of work allowing three runs on four hits and three walks.
The second game started quiet with Saginaw Valley breaking the scoring open in the top of the third. Five runs on four separate plays. A Brandon Scheurer RBI single, a Jatczak RBI ground out, two runs scoring on an error, and a Carpenter RBI single put SVSU up 5-0. After a run in the bottom of the third for Parkside, four more runs for the Cardinals came across to score in the top of the fourth. A Jatczak RBI single and an error scoring a second run knocked out the Rangers starter Parker Swanson (L, 0-2) who went 3.1 innings and was taxed for eight runs on seven hits. Schweiger and R. Raymond both singled home one more for a 9-1 lead in the fourth.
Steven Hecht (W, 2-1) pitched five innings allowing one unearned run on three hits. He got more run support in the top of the fifth when the Cardinals put up an 11-spot. Austin Cicerone started it with a solo home run and later doubled home another in the inning. Scheurer and Jatczak both tallied RBI singles and doubles in the inning as well and SVSU was up 20-1 after the dust settled.
Carson Bassett pitched the sixth allowing two runs on three walks and struck out one, Drew Cooper pitched an inning allowing one run on one hit and a walk before Derek Slocum pitched a scoreless outing with one walk and two strikeouts.
Parkside scored twice in the sixth and once in the seventh before Saginaw Valley scored four more in the ninth to round out the 27-4 game.
After the first conference weekend, SVSU heads to Central Michigan (6-18, 3-6 MAC) on Tuesday with a 2:00 PM first pitch before a 3:00 PM first pitch on Wednesday when the Cardinals host Wayne State University (15-6, 4-0 GLIAC).