LANSING, MICH. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team survived and advanced on day three of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) tournament on Saturday. The Cardinals (39-14) fell to Grand Valley State, 2-1 in the first game of the day and fought off elimination against Davenport in a 14-2 win.
GAME 1 – GVSU 2 – SVSU 1
Chase Raymond (W, 8-3) went 7.0 innings with six strikeouts in the loss to Grand Valley State. Nick Bastian pitched 2.0 innings of relief and struck out two Lakers.
GVSU put a runner on third in the opening inning, but the Cardinals got out unscathed. SVSU had the bases loaded with two outs in the third but failed to capitalize on the opportunity.
All of the game's scoring took place in the fifth starting in the top half when GVSU pushed two runs across the plate on a single up the middle. Hayden Jatczak hit a home run to right field with two outs to cut the deficit in half, and the score would sit at 2-1 for the rest of the contest.
The Lakers left three runners stranded in the top of the seventh and the Cardinals got a runner to second in the bottom of the ninth, but the rally fell short and forced Saginaw Valley State to an elimination game against Davenport for the 7 PM game.
Brandon Scheurer, Colin Cornwell, Reed Raymond, Austin Cicerone, Jaccar Watkins, and Jatczak recorded a hit for SVSU, with Jatczak tallying a run and RBI in the game.
GAME 2 – SVSU 14 – DAVENPORT 2
Steven Hecht (W, 5-2) got the nod for the Cardinals in the game against the Panthers. The Senior from Vassar, Michigan went 5.2 innings, striking out two and allowing just two runs on eight hits. Chase Gruno, Jackson Decker, and Matt Montroy came in in relief to help SVSU seal the win and move on to the Championship round.
Davenport struck first with a double down the left-field line that scored one run in the opening inning. Reed Raymond responded with a double to right field in the bottom half of the first that scored Scheurer and tied the game. Cicerone singled up the middle on the next at-bat to bring Jatczak home and the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead. A DU error led to two more runs for SVSU and the score sat at 4-1 after the opening frame.
A run for the Panthers in the third inning cut the SVSU lead to two runs, but the Cardinals limited the damage by stranding three runners on base.
The score sat at 4-2 through the fourth and fifth innings, before SVSU tallied five runs in the sixth and seventh for the 14-2 lead that would prove to be the final score.
Austin Schweiger hit a double to center field to score Jatczak and Conor McClennen for the first two runs of the sixth. Raymond added another when he singled to center field and brought Schweiger home. Another error by the Panthers scored Cicerone and Raymond and the Cardinals led 9-2.
Jatczak brought Jeff Reseigh to the plate with a single to left field in the seventh. Schweiger walked with the bases loaded for another run before Raymond hit an infield single that scored Jatczak and Cornwell. Schweiger scored the game's final run on a fielder's choice play.
Raymond led the way going 4-for-5 at the plate with four RBI and two runs scored. Jatczak, Cicerone, and McClennen each recorded two hits with Jatczak scoring three times.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will have a rematch against Grand Valley State in the Championship round of the tournament at 11 AM. SVSU will need to beat the Lakers twice in order to claim the GLIAC Tournament Championship and earn the automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division II Regional.