UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball program opened up a four-game weekend series against Grand Valley State University with a doubleheader Friday afternoon. The Cardinals (31-12, 18-6 GLIAC) defeated the Lakers (21-21, 13-10 GLIAC) 11-2 in game one and 3-2 in game two.
SVSU totaled 25 hits over both games with both Hayden Jatczak and Jeff Reseigh batting 5-for-8 over both games. Reed Raymond had four hits with three in the first game. Austin Cicerone tallied three hits with two in game one. Connon McClennen had the last multi-hit performance going 2-for-2 in game one as well. Jatczak led with three RBI while Reseigh scored four runs, three in the game one.
The pitching staff allowed four runs over 16 innings as Jatczak (W, 5-0) pitched six scoreless in game one and Tyler McLaren (W, 5-3) gave up two runs over six innings in game two. Chase Gruno gave up two runs in his inning of work in game one. Jackson Decker pitched two scoreless innings in game two while Brandon Scheurer (Sv, 2) gave up two hits but stranded both to close out the ninth.
Game one was all Cardinals. Raymond singled home Colin Cornwell in the bottom of the first to open up the scoring. Jatczak singled through the right side in the second to score McClennen to make it 2-0. In the third, SVSU put up five runs as Cicerone singled home one. He later scored on a fielding error that kept the bases loaded. Jatczak hit another single, this time scoring two more to make it 6-0 and then Cornwell scored the fifth run of the inning as he singled home Schuerer.
In the fourth, Reseigh plated Cicerone and Raymond on a single to left center to make it 9-0 Cardinals. Reseigh scored three batters later on a sacrifice fly to push the lead to double digits. All 10 runs and 14 hits to this point were against Grand Valley starter Nick Rutkowski (L, 5-4) who went 3.2 innings of work.
A double play in the sixth tacked on the last Cardinal run as Reseigh scored to make it 11-0. In the top of the seventh, Grand Valley cracked the scoreboard with a two-run home run. The win marked the 30th of the season for SVSU, the first time they have hit that mark since 2008 and the 14th time in program history.
The second game showcased more of a pitching duel. Reseigh singled home Austin Schweiger in the bottom of the second for the first run of the game. Both teams went scoreless afterwards until the fifth. A solo home run and an RBI ground out for the Lakers put them up 2-1, but the lead didn't last as Scheurer scored Reseigh in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
Sam Leck allowed both runs at that point over five innings of work for Grand Valley. Logan Wynalda (L, 0-5) pitched the sixth. Two singles and two fly outs put a runner in scoring position with two outs for SVSU. Lucas Mead singled through the left side which scored Raymond and gave the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.
Decker donned the mound afterwards to keep the Laker bats at bay before Scheurer earned the save and the second Cardinal victory on the day.
With the wins, SVSU baseball leads GVSU 3-1 in the season series with two games remaining this season. The Cardinals hold a 4.5 game lead on both Grand Valley and Wayne State for the first place in the GLIAC standings. Saginaw Valley continues the series with Grand Valley with a 1:00 game Saturday afternoon.