UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team fell 14-9 to No. 6 Grand Valley State (33-7, 13-3 GLIAC) on Sunday afternoon at the SVSU Baseball Complex. The Cardinals (20-19, 9-11 GLIAC) honored six seniors prior to the game, recognizing five players and one student assistant: Jack Decker (Farmington Hills, Mich. / North Farmington HS), Henry Stempky (Cheboygan, Mich. / Cheboygan HS), Aaron Bess (Boyne City, Mich. / Boyne City HS), Connor Cornwell (Sterling Heights, Mich. / Henry Ford II HS), Brady Carpenter (Oxford, Mich. / Oxford HS), and Adam Peters.
Grand Valley struck first in the opening inning, capitalizing on a Cardinal error before an RBI single gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead.
The Lakers added three runs in the fourth and broke the game open in the fifth with five more, including a two-run homer, to build a 9-1 advantage.
Saginaw Valley began chipping away in the fourth when Buck Snabes (Rochester, Mich. / Rochester Adams HS) drove a ball to right field that bounced off the glove of the fielder, hit the top of the fence, and carried over for a home run to make it 4-1. It marked Snabes' fourth home run of the season. The Cardinals mounted their biggest rally in the sixth, plating four runs. Lucas Mead (Gladwin, Mich. / Gladwin HS) scored on a throwing error, Austin Cicerone (Troy, Mich. / Troy HS) added an RBI groundout, Cornwell singled home a run, and Chase Miller (Walkerton, Ind. / John Glenn HS) doubled to left to cut the deficit to 9-5.
Grand Valley added a run in the seventh and four more in the ninth to extend the lead to 14-5.
The Cardinals showed fight in the bottom of the ninth. Mead worked a walk and Ryan Jarvis (Macomb, Mich. / Dakota HS) followed with a single before Snabes added a base hit to load the bases. A wild pitch brought home Mead, Mitchell Walters (Shepherd, Mich. / Shepherd HS) drove in Jarvis with a sacrifice fly, and Ethan Scheib (Mattawan, Mich. / Mattawan HS) capped the scoring with a two-run home run to center field for his first homer of the season.
Snabes finished 2-for-4 with a home run and three runs scored. Jarvis went 2-for-5 with two runs, while Cornwell added three hits and an RBI. Scheib's late homer highlighted the four-run ninth as the Cardinals totaled nine hits.
Jack Sequin (L, 4-4) (Bay City, Mich. / Bay City Western HS) started and allowed four runs over four innings. Stempky worked one inning in relief, and Will Juday (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Central HS) and Evan Woodward (Rochester, Mich. / Stoney Creek HS) combined to keep the Lakers off the board in the middle frames before Grand Valley's late surge.
Up Next: Saginaw Valley concludes its final homestand and prepares for the sixth annual Dow Diamond Classic on Tuesday, April 21. The Cardinals and Northwood Timberwolves are set for a doubleheader beginning at 3:35 PM at Dow Diamond. SVSU will be the home team in the nightcap, as it is the rescheduled game from March 31.
