Winter Park, Fla. – Saginaw Valley State University baseball is half way through their spring trip in Florida. On Monday, they played Rollins College, and after having two separate leads, the Tars put up a crooked number in the seventh and won 9-3.
It started off with a pitching duel as both teams were scoreless after three innings. Cardinal starter Steven Hecht (0-1) threw five innings allowing two runs on seven hits and punching out three batters. SVSU (4-7) got on the board first in the fourth. Two outs to start the inning before Martin Money singled, and on the next pitch, Reed Raymond deposited one over the right field fence for a 2-0 Cardinal lead.
Rollins (12-4) did not take long to answer. A lead off triple in the bottom half of the inning let to a run scoring single cutting the lead in half. Another RBI single tied the game in the bottom of the fifth.
In the next half inning, Jaccar Watkins had a lead off triple of his own. Watkins has two triples this season and five of his 11 hits are for extra bases. The next batter, Tucker Roe, grounded out to third, but the high chopper gave the speedy Watkins enough time to score and give SVSU a 3-2 lead.
Nolan Raymond donned the mound in relief of Hecht in the sixth. A walk and a hit batter put two on and with two outs, a double to left field tied the game, but the go ahead run was cut down at the plate to end the inning.
Chase Gruno (L, 0-1) took over in the seventh and with two on and one out, the power showed up for Rollins. A three-run home run made it 6-3, and after a walk, Thomas Shipley came in. Rollins would send a pinch hitter to the plate for a righty versus lefty match-up. It proved to be successful as another long ball extended the lead to five.
The Tars tallied one more run in the eighth to make it 9-3 and the Cardinals couldn't mount the comeback.
UP NEXT
These two teams are back in action Tuesday afternoon as Saginaw Valley plays Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
