Mount Pleasant, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team had a late schedule change with both home games this week being postponed or cancelled, but that didn't stop the Cardinals from getting a victory. On Monday, it was announced that SVSU would play the Central Michigan Chippewas on the road on Wednesday and they came away with a 7-4 win over the Division I opponent.
SVSU (8-8) out hit CMU (9-7) 10-3 and led for most of the game. It started with pitching for the Cardinals. Hunter Merillat (2-0) started with a perfect two innings striking out two of the six batters he faced.
In the third, Saginaw Valley got on the board first after Jaccar Watkins singled, stole second, and then moved to third on a passed ball. Tucker Roe stepped up and singled Watkins home to make it 1-0.
JJ Arbini took the mound in the bottom half for the Cardinals and pitched three innings allowing two unearned runs on one hit and a walk. Arbini struck out four batters. The two runs came in the bottom of the fourth on an error that gave CMU a 2-1 lead. That would be their only lead of the game.
SVSU tied it in the next half inning. Watkins (1-for-2) walked to lead it off and moved to second on an error by the first baseman during a pick off attempt. That's when Colin Cornwell sliced one to the left field line and doubled home Watkins to tie the game. Watkins got on base three times, scoring every time. Cornwell (2-for-3) led the team with 3 RBI and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Nick Bastian came in to pitch in the sixth. He faced four batters allowing a walk but had a scoreless inning keeping the game tied moving to the seventh.
Connor McClennen singled to start the inning. Watkins moved him over on a sacrifice bunt and after an intentional walk to Cornwell, Martin Money dug in and singled home McClennen to make it 3-2 SVSU. Ryan Palmblad (L, 0-1) took over for CMU afterwards.
The biggest jam for Cardinal pitching came in the bottom the seventh. Nolan Raymond took over and after getting the first out, he hit two batters and another reached on an error to load the bases. Another walk tied the game before Chase Gruno (W, 1-1) came in. Gruno struck out the first and got a ground ball to end the inning.
Cornwell rallied the team in the dugout before the eighth inning as they looked at a tie game against a top Division I club. The leadership was followed with big results for SVSU. A major two-out rally starting with a Jeffrey Reseigh single. McClennen struck out but the ball got away allowing him to reach first and Reseigh to move to third. Then, Watkins watched ball four skip in the dirt and Reseigh raced home to give the Cardinals a 4-3 lead. Roe tallied another RBI single pushing the lead to two on the next at-bat before Cornwell reached on an error that allowed both Watkins and Roe to score. A four spot in the eighth making it 7-3 gave the Cardinals a major boost.
Gruno gave up a double in the eighth, the Chippewa's second hit of the game, but didn't allow a run. In the ninth, Reed Raymond came in the shut the door. A solo home run made it 7-4, but that's all CMU could muster.
UP NEXT
After extending their winning streak to four games, SVSU has the weekend off. They'll head to Toledo to play Ohio Dominican on Tuesday. First pitch is at 2:00 p.m.
