LANSING, MICH. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team survived a five-run rally by Wayne State that forced extra innings in a 9-8 win after 10 innings on Friday. The Cardinals (38-13) will enter day three of the conference tournament unbeaten.
Hayden Jatczak got the start on the mound for the Cardinals. The 2024 GLIAC Player of the Year went 5.0 innings and gave up three hits, two earned runs, and struck out three Warrior batters. Jackson Decker pitched three innings in relief registering three strikeouts. Brandon Scheurer (W, 3-0) earned the win in two innings of work.
Austin Schweiger hit an infield single to lead off the bottom of the second inning. Austin Cicerone singled to right field and an error gave Schweiger third base to put two runners in scoring position. Schweiger on a fielder's choice and SVSU moved to a 1-0 lead after two frames.
A solo home run in the third for Wayne State tied the score. The deadlock was broken in the bottom half of the inning when Scheurer scored on a fielder's choice play to retake the lead for Saginaw Vally, 2-1. Schweiger followed that with a sacrifice fly to center field to bring Jatczak home and push the advantage to 3-1. Cicerone singled through the right side to score Cornwell and the Cardinals pulled ahead 4-1.
A single to left center and a passed ball scored two runs for the Warriors in the fourth inning.
Reed Raymond and Cicerone hit back-to-back doubles to move three runners across the plate. Jaccar Watkins added another double two plays later to score Cicerone and the Cardinals were ahead 8-3 with two innings left in regulation.
Wayne State rallied back with a grand slam and a single to center to put five runs on the board in the ninth inning to force extra innings and stay alive in the tournament.
Scheurer singled to center field with two outs in the bottom of the 10th. A dropped foul ball error kept the Cardinals in the inning and allowed Jatczak to double to center field for the walk-off victory.
Jatczak and Cicerone both tallied three hits on the afternoon. Jatczak added two runs and an RBI, while Cicerone scored a run and recorded three RBI. Scheurer, Raymond, and Watkins finished with two hits. Scheurer scored two runs.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals move onto day three of the GLIAC unbeaten and eliminated Wayne State with the win. SVSU will face the winner of the game between Grand Valley State and Davenport tomorrow, May 11, at 11 AM EST.