University Center, Mich. – Saginaw Valley State University baseball took both games of the doubleheader Saturday afternoon against Purdue University Northwest with two one-run wins. The first, a 4-3 walk off win in extra innings, and the second being a 6-5 final in seven innings.
SVSU (24-18, 14-9) is chasing Grand Valley State University for the third spot in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) standings and after both wins, are tied with a 14-9 conference record. Reed Raymond, Ethan Dufresne, and Colin Cornwell all had multi-hit games and Raymond scored the winning run in game one and earned the save in game two.
PNW (10-31, 5-19) came out swinging to start the day with a run in the first in game one. Saginaw Valley took a one run lead in the third as Tucker Roe singled home Jeffrey Reseigh, and Dufresne doubled home Roe. The Pride tallied two more against starter Tyler McLaren (7-1) in the fifth. McLaren pitched seven innings with three runs against and seven strikeouts and would have had his third complete game if extra innings wasn't needed.
The Cardinals tied it up in the sixth after loading the bases with no outs. Brandon Scheurer walked to bring in a run and make it 3-3. It looked like a good spot to take the lead, but a fielder's choice and a double play got Purdue Northwest out of the inning.
GLIAC conference doubleheaders start with a seven-inning game, so after a scoreless seventh, we needed extras. Chase Gruno (W, 2-2) pitched the eighth and faced four batters, striking out one and hitting one. In the bottom of the eighth, Sam Carlisle (L, 1-2) started his third inning of work and hit Reed Raymond to start the inning. Raymond advanced on a wild pitch, and then Scheurer bounced one through the right side. A powerful throw from right field beat Raymond to the plate, but an impressive series dodges showed Raymond getting around the tag and then diving back over the catcher to touch home plate and win the game 4-3.
Due to game one going to extras, game two was changed to a seven-inning contest and it started with a hit parade. Martin Money hit a two-RBI double in the first to give Hunter Merillat (W, 5-1) some early run support. The Pride scored three in the second on four hits and an error making one run unearned. Roe collected his own RBI double in the second tying the game up at 3-3. However, a hit and an error in the top of the third gave Purdue Northwest a 5-3 lead. The Cardinals took advantage of a fielding error in the bottom of the third as Raymond doubled home two to tie the game up, and then Money scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 6-5.
All the scoring in game two took place in 2 1/2 innings. Merillat settled in and pitched six innings allowing five runs, three earned, and striking out four. Joe Buikema (L, 2-4) pitched all six for the Pride and had six runs, three earned against. Reed Raymond (Sv, 5) took over in the seventh and after getting two outs to start, had two soft singles and walk to load the bases. Raymond got the last batter to ground out to second to end the game and secure the sweep.
UP NEXT
SVSU has secured a season series victory winning the first four of six against PNW. Another doubleheader awaits on Sunday after the postponed game on Friday. With more rain expected later Sunday evening, first pitch of the doubleheader has been moved up to 12:00 p.m. The Senior Day presentation is still set to take place between games.
