WESTFIELD, Ind. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team split its Friday slate at Grand Park, falling 3-2 to Cedarville in the opener before bouncing back with a 9-6 victory over Lewis to close the day. The Cardinals (1-1) totaled 15 hits and drew 10 walks across the two contests.
Game One: Cardinals 2, Yellow Jackets 3
Jack Decker (Farmington Hills, Mich. / North Farmington HS) started on the mound and was sharp through six innings, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out five and walking three. He worked out of multiple jams, stranding five Yellow Jackets over the first three innings.
The Cardinals struck first in the top of the third. After Aaron Bess (Boyne City, Mich. / Boyne City HS) doubled to right field and Ethan Scheib (Mattawan, Mich. / Mattawan HS) was hit by a pitch, Lucas Mead (Gladwin, Mich. / Gladwin HS) singled to left to plate Bess for a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Ryan Jarvis (Macomb, Mich. / Dakota HS) lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Scheib and pushing the advantage to 2-0.
Cedarville broke through in the sixth on an RBI groundout, cutting the deficit to 2-1. The decisive frame came in the seventh. After a pair of hit batters and a walk loaded the bases, a bases-load walk tied the game. An RBI groundout followed, giving Cedarville a 3-2 edge.
Brady Baalaer (L, 0-1) (Macomb, Mich. / L'Anse Creuse HS North) was charged with the loss after allowing two runs in relief. Will Juday (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Central HS) settled things down over the final 1.2 innings, striking out three without surrendering a hit.
Buck Snabes (Rochester, Mich. / Rochester Adams HS) led the Cardinals at the plate, going 3-for-4. Mead had the other multi-hit game going 2-for-3 with a triple. Jensen Wagoner (W, 1-1) pitched 7.1 for Cedarville, allowing two runs on six hits and struck out six. Jordan Geiger (Sv, 1) earned the five-out save out the bullpen, allowing one hit and punching out one.
Game Two: Cardinals 9, Flyers 6
Lewis took an early 1-0 lead in the second on a triple and added another run in the fourth to go up 2-1. The Cardinals answered with a crooked number in the bottom of the fourth.
Connor Cornwell (Sterling Heights, Mich. / Henry Ford II HS) was hit by a pitch to begin the inning and later scored on a single by Mitchell Walters (Shepherd, Mich. / Shepherd HS) to tie the game at 2-2. With the bases loaded, Jarvis doubled to left field, driving in two runs to give SVSU a 4-2 lead. After another RBI groundout by Jacob Pitt (Grand Rapids, Mich. / Catholic Central HS) made it 5-2, and then Cornwell delivered the big swing of the frame with a three-run double to center, capping the seven-run outburst and stretching the lead to 8-2.
Saginaw Valley added an insurance run in the fifth when Scheib doubled to left to score Bess, making it 9-2.
Scheib paced the offense with three hits, while Cornwell finished 2-for-4 with three RBI. Jarvis added two RBI, and Pitt drove in a pair. The Cardinals drew 10 walks and stole six bases in the victory
On the mound, Nathan Masar (W, 1-0) (Midland, Mich. / Bullock Creek HS) earned the win after allowing two runs over five innings with five strikeouts. The Flyers made things interesting with a run in the seventh and three more in the eighth, trimming the lead to 9-6. Andrew Pohlmann (Grand Rapids, Mich. / Grandville HS) worked 2.2 innings in relief. Steve Getts (Walled Lake, Mich. / Walled Lake Central HS) cleaned up the eighth inning before Dan Wilcome (Sv, 1) (Cheboygan, Mich. / Cheboygan Area HS) shut the door in the ninth to record the save.
Up Next: The Cardinals are back at the Grand Park Sports Complex in Westfield, Indiana tomorrow, Saturday, February 14. They play Lewis and Cedarville again as they take on the Flyers at 11:00 AM and the Yellow Jackets at 2:30 PM.