XENIA, Ohio – Saginaw Valley State University baseball finished their first weekend of the season with a doubleheader against Cedarville University at Athletes in Action Sports Complex in Xenia, Ohio Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals (1-2) lost both games against the Yellow Jackets (2-4) with game one finishing 7-3 and Cedarville coming from behind late in game two to win 11-9.
The Yellow Jackets struck first and early in game one. Cardinal starter Christopher Schmees (L, 0-1) gave a run in the first and in the third as he threw three innings allowing three hits, two walks, and three hits. Schmees struck out six along the way.
Cedarville starter Ethan Milburn (W, 1-1) pitched a gem throwing six innings allowing five hits and two walks and struck out eight. One unearned run scored against Milburn. Connor McClennen reached on a bunt that scored Martin Money in the fourth to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Yellow Jackets stepped on the gas in the middle innings scoring one in the fourth and three in the sixth. A solo home run, a sacrifice fly, and a two-RBI triple making it 6-1. Another run for Cedarville in the seventh extended the lead before Jeffery Reseigh reached on a fielder's choice in the eighth that scored Brandon Scheurer.
In the ninth, SVSU got the final run of the game off a Money RBI single making it 7-3 Cedarville.
SVSU got on the board first in game two with a run in the top of the first. The first four batters all got on base with Reed Raymond and Tucker Roe singling, then Cornwell reached on a fielder's choice before Money doubled home Raymond for the 1-0 lead.
The Yellow Jackets tied it up in their half of the inning on a dropped third strike allowing a run to score the batter to reach first. Cardinal starter Ryan Adams (0-0) got hit around in the second as Cedarville struck for four runs. An RBI single, a two-run triple, and another RBI single gave Cedarville a 5-1 lead heading to the third. Adams settled in and threw two scoreless innings afterwards to end his outing. He struck out seven while giving up six hits, three walks, and five earned runs.
Yellow Jacket starter Tanner Gillis (0-0) didn't make it through the fourth inning when the Cardinal bats came alive. Logan Welch tallied an RBI single to get things rolling. Austin Schweiger scored on a passed ball and then Brendan Conkle tripled home two to tie the game. Raymond was up next and gave SVSU the 6-5 lead with a sacrifice fly scoring Conkle.
The offense would continue for both teams in the fifth. SVSU drove one more in with a McClennen RBI single, but the Yellow Jackets took advantage of errors. Two throwing errors and a single allowed three runs to cross home plate in the bottom of the fifth giving Cedarville a 8-7 lead.
The lead jumped back to the Cardinals in the sixth. Raymond with his second RBI single tied the game. Raymond finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Two batters later, Cornwell drove in another giving SVSU a 9-8 lead.
Reid Hale (W, 1-0) shut the door for the final 2 2/3 innings for Cedarville allowing them to come back late. Scheurer (L, 0-1) took to the mound in the seventh for SVSU. In the eighth, the Yellow Jackets had their biggest hit of the night. A three-run home run to give Cedarville an 11-9 lead and the victory.
UP NEXT
After dropping two of three in Ohio, SVSU baseball looks forward to a trip to Missouri. The team will play Maryville three times next weekend starting Friday, February 24 at 4:00 p.m