DETROIT – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball program took one of two games Saturday afternoon against Wayne State. The Cardinals (21-8, 10-2 GLIAC) won the first 5-1 while the Warriors (19-10, 8-4 GLIAC) came back and won game two 14-9.
Austin Schweiger went 7-for-9 on the day with a 4-for-4 performance in game one and 3-for-5 in game two while scoring two runs and driving home four. Schweiger extended his hitting streak to eight games on Saturday.
Game one was all Saginaw Valley besides the Warriors one run in the fourth. Hayden Jatczak started on the mound and pitched 3.1 innings while allowing one run on two hits and four walks while striking out four. Jatczak gave way to Jackson Decker (W, 1-0) who pitched 2.2 innings allowing one walk and punched out one batter.
SVSU gave Jatczak run support as Schweiger had two RBI singles, one in the first and one in the third before Colin Cornwell scored on a wild pitch in the third to make it 3-0 Cardinals. The Warriors cut the lead to two before Reed Raymond scored Schweiger with a sacrifice fly in the sixth and Jatczak scored Connor McClennen with another sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it 5-1. Brandon Scheurer finished the game putting away the only three batters he faced in the seventh, one with a strike out, to secure the third straight victory for Saginaw Valley over Wayne State. Griffin Kilander (L, 5-2) took the loss for the Warriors pitching all seven innings, allowing five runs on 12 hits and two walks.
The Cardinals got ahead in game one early with four runs in the third and three in the fourth. Jatczak doubled home McClennen before Schweiger singled home both Jatczak and Scheurer to make it 3-0. Brady Carpenter drove in Col. Cornwell on a sacrifice fly to give SVSU the four-run lead. Jatczak did more damage in the fourth with his eighth home run of the season. A three-run blast over the big green wall in left field to make it 7-0.
Steven Hecht started on the mound in game two and had four scoreless innings to start. After a run in the fifth, the first two batters singled in the sixth and after a pop up, the next two got on with a run scoring. Ryan Adams entered in relief with the bases loaded. Wayne State tallied six runs on four hits and two errors in the sixth to tie the game 7-7.
Ausin Cicerone singled gave the Cardinals the lead in the top of the seventh with an RBI single that scored Carpenter. In the bottom half of the inning, a ground out and two walks chased Adams out of the game and Nick Bastian (L, 0-1) took over. The next batter hit a three-run home run to give Wayne State their first lead of either game. Up 10-8, the Warriors tallied four more runs in the eighth against Chase Gruno before Reed Raymond doubled home one in the ninth to make it 14-9.
Macio Miller (W, 1-1) pitched three innings for Wayne State in relief and got the win while Gabe Nazelli (Sv, 1) recorded the two inning save as he entered with a two-run lead in the eighth.
Cardinal baseball stays atop the GLIAC standings with a two-game lead on Wayne State in second place. Saginaw Valley wraps up the four-game road series with a 1:00 PM first pitch start on Sunday from Harwell Field in Detroit, Michigan.