UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team opened a four-game weekend series against Wayne State on Friday afternoon. The Cardinals (20-11, 5-4 GLIAC) defeated the Warriors (17-16, 6-2 GLIAC) by a score of 9-2, capitalizing on three costly errors by Wayne State in the fifth inning to take the lead.
Buck Snabes went 2-for-3 at the plate, driving in two runs and scoring once as SVSU collected seven hits. Ethan Scheib added a pair of hits in five at-bats and also crossed the plate. Austin Cicerone and Lucas Mead each drew two walks; Cicerone scored twice, while Mead scored once and drove in a run.
Chase Raymond (W, 4-1) earned the win with five innings of work, allowing eight hits and one walk while striking out seven. Despite facing a few tight spots, Raymond limited the damage to two runs. Daniel Wilcome (Sv, 1) closed out the game with four scoreless innings, giving up four hits and one walk while striking out four.
Wayne State jumped out to an early lead with a pair of run-scoring singles in the second inning. SVSU responded in the fourth, as Snabes drove in Cicerone with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Warriors' defensive woes surfaced in the fifth inning, when three consecutive errors flipped the momentum. Connor Cornwell reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to second on a throwing error. Aaron Bess followed with a single and took second on another throwing error, which allowed Cornwell to score and tie the game at 2-2. Scheib then hit a chopper between first and second, beating the throw and advancing to second on yet another error that brought Bess home to give SVSU a 3-2 lead.
Wayne State's fourth error proved costly in the sixth. Snabes laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Mead to second, but the throw sailed up the baseline and into foul territory, allowing Mead to score and Snabes to advance all the way to third. He then scored on a sacrifice fly, extending the lead to 5-2.
The Cardinals added three more runs in the seventh via a sacrifice fly, an RBI single, and a heads-up double steal. During the steal attempt, Snabes intentionally stayed in a rundown to allow Cicerone to score before being tagged out to end the inning. SVSU capped the scoring in the eighth with a third sacrifice fly, pushing the final score to 9-2.
Up Next: Saginaw Valley hosts Wayne State on Saturday, April 12, for a doubleheader starting at 1:00 PM EDT. The day will feature Alumni Day and Little League Day, with kids invited to run the bases following the conclusion of Game 2.
