MIDLAND, Mich. – MIDLAND, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team edged Northwood 5-4 in the fifth annual Dow Diamond Classic Tuesday night. The Cardinals (25-16) improved to 5-1 against the Timberwolves (27-14) at Dow Diamond, winning for the third consecutive year.
Usually plagued by cold and rain — even cancelled twice — this year's game featured some of the best weather SVSU has seen all season.
Ryan Jarvis led the Cardinals with two hits, three RBI, and a run scored. His bases-clearing double in the fifth gave SVSU the lead, and he later crossed the plate in the seventh with the game-winning run. Ethan Scheib and Buck Snabes each went 2-for-4 with a run, while Lucas Mead and Austin Cicerone added an RBI apiece.
Will Juday got the start, allowing two runs on three hits with a strikeout in one inning. The bullpen combined for eight innings, giving up just two runs (one earned) and striking out seven. Jordan Lewis (W, 2-0), Nathan Masar, and Jake Shelagowski (Sv, 8) each tossed a scoreless frame. Daniel Wilcome allowed one run over three innings of relief, and Ben Kochany surrendered an unearned run across two innings with two strikeouts.
Northwood jumped ahead 2-0 in the first, scoring on a wild pitch and an RBI single. SVSU answered as Mead drove in Scheib with a groundout. A solo homer extended Northwood's lead in the third before SVSU broke through against the Timberwolves' bullpen in the fifth.
After a hit-by-pitch, a single, and a walk loaded the bases, Jarvis ripped the first Cardinal extra-base hit of the night — a three-run double into right-center for a 4-3 lead. Northwood tied it in the sixth with an RBI single following a passed ball, but the Cardinals quickly responded. Jarvis singled with two outs in the seventh, and Cicerone doubled him home to retake the lead.
Masar and Shelagowski shut the door late, with Masar fanning two and Shelagowski striking out one to record his GLIAC-leading eighth save.
Up Next: Saginaw Valley baseball returns to GLIAC play with a four-game series at Parkside starting Friday, April 25. First pitch is set for 4:00 PM EDT at Historic Simmons Field in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
