UTICA, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team saw its 2026 season come to a close Friday afternoon with a 6-4 loss to No. 1 seed Grand Valley State in the GLIAC Tournament at UWM Field. The Cardinals (26-25, 12-12 GLIAC) launched two home runs late to cut the lead to one but couldn't complete the comeback.
Grand Valley jumped out early, scoring twice in the first inning on an RBI single and a double-play ball that allowed another run to cross for a 2-0 lead.
Saginaw Valley answered in the third. Chase Miller (Walkerton, Ind. / John Glenn HS) singled to right and later came home when Lucas Mead (Gladwin, Mich. / Gladwin HS) lined an RBI single up the middle to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The game turned in the sixth inning. The Lakers loaded the bases and plated three runs on a walk and a two-run single to stretch the lead to 5-1.
The Cardinals refused to go quietly. In the seventh, Ethan Scheib (Mattawan, Mich. / Mattawan HS) singled to right-center before Miller crushed a two-run home run to left field, bringing SVSU within 5-3. Two batters later, Mead launched a solo homer to left to make it a one-run game at 5-4.
Grand Valley responded in the bottom half of the inning with an RBI fielder's choice to push the lead back to 6-4, and the Cardinals were unable to mount another rally in the final two innings.
Mead led the offense, finishing 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Miller went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI, while Scheib added two hits as SVSU totaled nine hits on the afternoon.
Jack Decker (L, 4-2) (Farmington Hills, Mich. / North Farmington HS) worked six innings, allowing five runs on seven hits. Will Juday (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Central HS) pitched the final two frames, allowing one run while striking out two.
Season Recap: Saginaw Valley concludes the 2026 campaign with a 26-25 record and were 12-12 in GLIAC play.
The Cardinals hit 43 home runs this season, their highest total since 2002 when SVSU launched 44 long balls. The team also set a new program record for stolen bases and stolen base attempts with 164 swipes on 195 tries, blowing the records of 115 steals on 148 tries from 1987 out of the water. Scheib and Buck Snabes (Rochester, Mich. / Rochester Adams HS) played key roles in the stolen base game as Scheib broke the original individual record of 29 bases and ended with 30 steals on the year, but Snabes eventually passed him and finished the year with 41, just two shy of tying the GLIAC individual single-season record.