XENIA, Ohio – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball program traveled back to the Athletes in Action Complex to start a four-game series against Cedarville. The Cardinals (5-3) defeated the Yellow Jackets (4-6) with wins of 15-10 and 10-7 in extra innings. Game two also had a 20-minute delay when the stadium lights turned off at the top of the 10 o'clock hour.
Lucas Mead led offensively finishing the day 7-for-10 with a triple, three RBI, and six runs scored. Connor Cornwell had four hits on the day with a 3-for-5 performance in game one. Aaron Bess, Brady Carpenter, Grant Richardson, and Austin Cicerone all had a multi-hit game as well. SVSU totaled 25 runs on 29 hits and they walked 18 times over the 19 innings played. The pitching staff totaled 30 strikeouts with Ben Kochany and Jake Shelagowski both leading with seven.
Game One: SVSU 15, CU 10
The Cardinals loaded the bases in the second with a double and two batters hit by a pitch. Ryan Jarvis made the Yellow Jackets pay with a triple to center field to score all three. Cicerone drove in Jarvis on the next at bat with a sacrifice fly for the early 4-0 lead. After an RBI walk for Cedarville in the bottom half of the inning, an error scored Ethan Rose and Jarvis tallied his fourth RBI with a ground out to score Cornwell to make it 6-1.
Henry Stempky pitched four innings in the start. He allowed five runs on six hits and three walks while striking out two as CU pushed back in the middle innings. A two-run home run in the third and a two-run triple in the fourth brought it within one run.
Chase Raymond (W, 1-1) took over in the fifth and pitched two innings. Raymond struck out the first two batters but the second reached on a dropped third strike. The next three walked to push home a run. Cedarville took advantage of the walks with a fielder's choice and two run scoring singles to tack on three more runs to take a 9-6 lead.
SVSU responded in the top of the sixth with Bess singling home Cicerone. Cornwell followed with a two-run double scoring Mead and Bess, tying the game at 9-9. The Cardinals gave Raymond the lead plus some insurance runs with a six spot in the seventh. Mead recorded his third single of the game to score Cicerone to give SVSU the lead again. An RBI single by Buck Snabes was followed by a two-run single from Rose before Cornwell and Richardson both drove in a run with doubles as the Cardinals took a 15-9 lead.
Nathan Masar (Sv, 1) took the mound in the seventh and gave up one run on a solo home run in the eighth as he pitched the final three innings and struck out five to earn the save.
Game Two: SVSU 10, CU 7 – 10 Innings
Another back-and-forth duel showcased the Cardinals taking a 2-0 lead in the second. Two wild pitches scored both Mead and Raymond. The Yellow Jackets responded with a three-run double and an RBI single in the bottom half of the inning to take a 4-2 lead.
Brady Baalaer got the start allowing four runs to score on three hits and four walks while striking out three over his two innings of work. After pitching game one, Raymond helped out offensively with a two-run single in the third to tie the game. Kochany took over on the mound with the game tied and pitched 3.2 innings. He allowed three runs, one earned, on four hits and two walks while punching out seven.
In the fourth, Cedarville took the lead again on an error, but the lead wouldn't last as Mead tripled home Cicerone in the next half inning to tie it 5-5. Raymond bounced into a fielder's choice to score Mead to take the one-run lead. Shelagowski (W, 1-0) took over in the fifth and earned his first win with 3.1 scoreless innings of work. He struck out seven as well allowing one hit and four walks.
In the top of the sixth, Jarvis drove home Cornwell on a sacrifice fly to double the lead. CU responded in the bottom of the sixth with a fielder's choice and a double to score two runs and tie the game. The originally scheduled seven-inning contest went to the 10th before either team broke the tie. Mead singled for his fourth hit of the game, seventh on the day, to score Jarvis and take the lead again. Bess added insurance runs singling home Cicerone and Mead to put SVSU ahead 10-7.
Will Juday (Sv, 1) struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 inning to earn the save of game two and the sweep of the doubleheader.
Up Next: Saginaw Valley plays two more against Cedarville tomorrow, March 1. Game one's first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 PM EST from Athletes in Action Complex in Xenia, Ohio.