UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball program wrapped up the six-game season series against Davenport with a home doubleheader Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals (26-10, 14-4 GLIAC) took game one 4-2 in seven innings and game two 14-4 in nine against the Panthers (10-25, 6-10 GLIAC).
Hayden Jatczak continued his dominance at the plate going 5-for-7 with three walks over both games. Reed Raymond made major contributions to the offense going 5-for-9 with eight RBI on Sunday. Austin Cicerone had a big game two with two hits over four at bats and drove in four runs.
Game one started as a pitching duel. Chase Raymond (W, 6-1) pitched six innings in the win allowing two runs on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts. C. Raymond started with four scoreless innings. Tyler McKinstry (L, 0-3) gave up four runs on five hits through 4.1 innings pitched.
R. Raymond broke open the scoring in the bottom of the fourth with a two-RBI single scoring Colin Cornwell and Jatczak. Davenport tied it in the top half of the fifth with a two-run home run but the Cardinals took the lead back in their half of the inning. Col. Cornwell singled home Brandon Schuerer to make it 3-2 and Austin Schweiger followed up with an RBI single to double the lead.
Brandon Scheurer (Sv, 1) pitched the seventh and set down all three batters he faced to get his first save of the season and secure the 4-2 win.
The Panthers started quick in game two with a three-run home run in the first inning to go up 3-0. R. Raymond got a run back with an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning. Jatczak started on the mound in game two but only made it through the first before Jackson Decker (W, 3-0) took over and pitched five scoreless innings. Decker allowed one hit and three walks while striking out five.
The Cardinals tied the game in the bottom of the third with a two-run double by Connor McClennen. They followed up with two more runs in the fourth as R. Raymond doubled home Col. Cornwell and Connor Cornwell scored R. Raymond on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3. Both runs in the fourth were against Davenport reliever Cade Kontny (L, 1-2) who allowed two runs on one hit and one walk while recording one out.
The fifth provided more runs for SVSU as Cicerone cleared the bases with a double to center that scored three and put the Cardinals up 8-3. The sixth showcased the biggest crooked number as Saginaw Valley scored five. Schweiger walked with the bases loaded to score one before R. Raymond hit one down the right field line with the bases loaded. The right fielder called for time as the ball went into the tarp in foul territory and Raymond was awarded a three-RBI triple. Cicerone singled Raymond home on the next at-bat to make it 13-3.
Both teams scored one more run to make it 14-4. A solo home run for Davenport in the seventh and an RBI single by R. Raymond in the bottom half of the inning ended the scoring. Nick Bastian pitched the seventh allowing one run on two hits and struck out one. Chase Gruno pitched a scoreless eighth allowing one base runner on a hit by pitch. Ryan Adams came in to pitch the ninth but left after his second pitch due to injury. Jake Shelagowski took over afterwards and allowed two walks but left them stranded to end the game.
With the wins, baseball ends the six-game season series against Davenport winning five of the meetings. The Cardinals sit in first in the GLIAC with a two-game lead on Wayne State. Saginaw Valley hits the road for the final road weekend of the regular season as they head to Purdue Northwest on Friday. First pitch from Hammond, Indiana is set for 4:00 PM EST.
