HILLSDALE, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley
State baseball team has won the season series over GLIAC foe
Hillsdale College with an impressive 11-2 victory today (April 19).
The Cardinals won the five-game series 4-1.
In the single-nine contest, the Cardinals jumped out to an early
2-0 lead in the top of the first inning as junior Kevin Dore (Bay
City, Mich.) led the game off with a double down the right field
line, followed by a junior Chase Coulter single to put two runners
on the corners. Junior Charlie Thomas (Northville, Mich.) drew a
walk to load the bases for junior Ryan Weber (Clio, Mich.), who hit
an RBI single to left field. Next up, junior Josh Peterson
(Midland, Mich.) smacked an RBI single to left field to wrap up the
Cardinal scoring for the inning.
However, the 2-0 lead would not last long, as freshman Jason Potts
(Hartland, Mich.) led off the second inning with a single to right
field, but was called out at second as freshman Ryan Ermers (Utica,
Mich.) reached first on a fielder's choice in the next at
bat. Ermers then stole second base, and advanced to third on a wild
pitch. Dore would get on base with a walk, before the Chargers were
forced to make a pitching change. As Coulter dug in, Dore stole
second base, and with a 1-1 count, Coulter hit a three-run homer to
left field. With two outs, Webber hit a single up the middle, and
would advance to second on a wild pitch, before Peterson hit an RBI
single to right field to wrap the Cardinal scoring for the inning,
and giving SVSU a 6-0 lead.
Hillsdale would get one run back in the bottom of the second, but
the Cardinals would add three runs in the fourth, extending their
lead to 9-1. In the beginning of the fourth, Thomas led off with a
walk, and with one out, Peterson hit a two-run homerun to left
field. With two outs, sophomore Dustin Mayner (Gaines, Mich.) drew
a walk, and stole second base, getting himself in scoring position
for Potts, who hit a single to left field as Mayner came around to
score.
In the fifth, the Dore singled to right field, and with two outs,
Webber hit an RBI double to left field, to go up 10-1.
The Chargers would add one run in the seventh, before the
Cardinals add another run of their own in the top of the ninth as
freshman Nick Gallina (Troy, Mich.) singled to right field, as
junior Josh Kozuch (Bay City, Mich.) stepped in to hit for Webber,
and reached first on a throwing error by the Charger third baseman.
Peterson drew a walk to load the bases, and Gallina scored on a
passed ball to end the game's scoring.
On the mound for the victory, Steve Janes (Chesterton, Ind.) threw
seven innings, only allowing four hits, one earned run while
striking out five to improve his record to 2-3 on the season.
Coming in for relief, junior Scott Haase (Mount Pleasant, Mich.)
threw two innings, allowing no runs, no hits, and three walks while
fanning three.
The win improves the SVSU record to 14-23-1 overall, and 10-15-1
in the GLIAC, while Hillsdale falls to 10-26 overall and 3-20 in
the GLIAC. The Cardinals will return to action on April 22 to take
on Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.
