AUBURNDALE, Fla. - The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team fell to Maryville University tonight (Mar. 5), 4-3, on Day 3 of their annual Florida Spring Trip at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. The loss drops the Cardinals to 1-4 on the season.
Saginaw Valley jumped out to a quick start in the top of the first thanks to a Kyle O'Boyle (Midland, Mich./Bullock Creek HS) RBI single to right center scoring Eric Burt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS), who singled to left field earlier in the inning. O'Boyle recorded two hits on the evening.
The Cardinals would push their lead to 2-0 in the top half of the second inning when Burt laced one of his two singles up the middle to plate Dan Norton (Grand Rapids, Mich./Catholic Central HS), who reached on an infield single two batters previously.
After Maryville cut the SVSU lead to 2-1, Mike VanAlst (Clio, Mich.) gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth, as he singled through the box to bring home Cam Wiechmann (Birch Run, Mich./Muskegon CC), who reached on a single with two outs in the inning.
Maryville added a run in the bottom half of the fifth on a wild pitch and went on to score two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to close out the Cardinals by a 4-3 final.
Freshman Scott Sency (Medina, Ohio) got the start on the mound for SVSU going 4 2/3 innings giving up two runs on two hits with four strikeouts and three walks in a no decision.
Mike Schaaf (Saginaw, Mich./Arthur Hill HS) made a relief appearance in the bottom of the fifth inning to get the Cardinals out of a jam with a big strikeout. However, Schaaf would be the pitcher of record in the loss working 2 2/3 innings with three strikeouts.
Saginaw Valley will try to get back on track on Tuesday when they travel to Lakeland to battle Florida Southern for a 7:00 pm start.
