LIBERTY, Mo. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball program continued their series at William Jewell on Saturday afternoon. The SVSU Cardinals (17-6) defeated the WJU Cardinals (13-14) 17-11 to claim the series victory a day early. Lucas Mead went 5-for-5 on the day and hit for the cycle with a single, two doubles, a triple, and a home run. His team-leading fourth home run was a grand slam in the second inning, putting Saginaw Valley ahead 7-2.
Mead led the team with six RBIs and scored three runs, while four other Cardinals had multi-hit games. Grant Richardson went 3-for-5 on the day, while Ethan Scheib, Zane Wilson, and Casey Joppie all had two hits. Jack Decker (W, 5-0) pitched five innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out eight.
SVSU took the lead in the first inning with a sacrifice fly by Austin Cicerone, but WJU scored a pair in their half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead. Saginaw Valley then put up a big second inning with six runs. Another sacrifice fly and an RBI walk made it 3-2 SVSU before Mead blasted his grand slam to center field to make it 7-2.
William Jewell cut into the lead with a pair of solo shots in the second, and Joppie made it 8-4 with an RBI single in the third. Mead plated two with a double in the fourth, and Wilson and Richardson followed with run-scoring singles to push the lead to 11-4. WJU hit their third solo home run in the fourth and tallied another run on a sacrifice fly. Both teams continued to push across runs, but none came via base hits until the ninth.
Brady Baalaer pitched 2.1 innings, giving up five runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks while striking out three. Jordan Lewis (Sv, 1) recorded the final five outs, striking out all five batters he faced and allowing a walk. Mead started the ninth with a single for his final leg of the cycle. Ethan Rose singled home a run before Brady Carpenter drove in two more with a single to make it 17-11.
Up Next: Saginaw Valley baseball concludes their three-game series with William Jewell on Sunday, March 30. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM EDT from Talley Stadium in Liberty, Missouri.