TUCSON, Ariz. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball program picked up where they left off in Arizona as they played Walsh against Thursday morning and defeated them 12-4. The Cardinals (10-3) pick up their tenth win on the back of 22 hits including a four-hit performance by Colin Cornwell. Walsh (5-5) had 14 hits but couldn't capitalize although they had a four-hit day from Brady Maciak.
SVSU had six players with multi-hit games. Reed Raymond, Ethan Rose, Connor Cornwell, and Connor McClennen all had three hits while Brandon Scheurer and Austin Schweiger both had two. The pitching staff totaled nine strikeouts off the back of Ben Kochany's five in two innings.
The Cardinals got the scoring started in the first. Col. Cornwell singled home Hayden Jatczak and later scored with Schweiger on Rose's two-RBI single to make it 3-0. Walsh answered with a three-spot of their own in the bottom of the second against Saginaw Valley starter, Chase Raymond (W, 3-0). C. Raymond went five innings allowing three runs, two earned on nine hits with two strikeouts.
SVSU grabbed the lead back in the top of the third and never let go. A R. Raymond sacrifice fly scored Schweiger to make it 4-3 before another sacrifice fly from Jatczak scored McClennen in the fourth to double the lead. All five runs were against Walsh's starter, Martin Polonkay (L, 0-2) who gave up five runs on ten hits in four innings of work.
Con. Cornwell drove in his first of two RBI on the day with a single in the fifth. Rose followed up the scoring when Jaccar Watkins reached on a fielder's choice to make it 7-3. Three more runs in the sixth forced a pitching change for the Cavaliers. A bases loaded walk for Con. Cornwell, a sacrifice fly by Watkins, and a McClennen RBI single gave SVSU double-digit runs as they led 10-3. The Cardinals put up their last two runs in the top of the eighth with a Schuerer RBI single before he later scored on a balk.
Kochany took over in the bottom of the sixth. He struck out the side to start his outing before giving up two hits in the seventh and striking out two more to finish with two innings pitched, two hits, no runs, and five strike outs. Ryan Adams pitching the eighth allowing one hit and striking out two before Will Juday had the ninth. Juday gave up one unearned run on two hits to seal the game for Saginaw Valley.
The Cardinals have posted 25 runs on 38 hits over their two games in Arizona and have a three-game win streak. They pick things back up from Tucson on Friday with doubleheader action. SVSU plays Concordia-St. Paul at 11:30 AM and Southwest Minnesota State at 3:00 PM EST.