Caledonia, Mich. – Saginaw Valley State University baseball went back on the road to the west side of the state on Thursday to play Davenport University in game one of four this weekend. The series wraps up the six Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) matches between the two after a two-game set last Sunday. The Cardinals (12-15, 4-6) dropped a close 6-4 game to start the weekend trip.
The Panthers (13-17, 7-3) have been one of the top teams in the GLIAC in the last ten days winning six of their last seven. SVSU got on the board first however, with a run in the top of the first inning. Tucker Roe singled and moved around to third on a wild pitch and a ground out before scoring on another wild pitch making it 1-0.
DU answered back with multiple runs in the bottom half of the inning. Cardinal starter JJ Arbini (L, 0-2) had the inning extended against him with an error. A one-run single and a two-run single scored three for Davenport giving them a 3-1 lead. All three runs were unearned against Arbini and were the only ones he gave up through his five innings pitched. He struck out six along the way.
Panthers starter Isaac Van Dyke (W, 3-1) gave up the run in the first before pitching five scoreless innings afterwards. Both starters settled in and the 3-1 game held until the top of the seventh. Jaccar Watkins tripled to lead off and after a pop out, Brandon Scheurer singled him home to cut the lead to one.
Davenport also got the offense rolling in the seventh. Nick Bastian was on the mound for his second inning when a single and a hit-by-pitch put two runners on. A single scored one and a passed ball scored a second making it 5-2. Chase Gruno pitched the eighth where he allowed one unearned run with two strikeouts.
The Cardinals got to the relief pitcher in the ninth and started to mount a comeback. Austin Schweiger singled and Martin Money walked before both were moved into scoring position by a sacrifice bunt by Watkins. Scheurer singled home Schweiger, and then Ethan Rose pinch hit and drove home Money with an RBI single making it 6-4. Logan Bursick (Sv, 4) took over on the mound and struck out the last batter to end the game.
UP NEXT
Saginaw Valley is back in action at Davenport University on Friday with a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m.