University Center, Mich. – The celebration of Senior Day was bitter sweet as Saginaw Valley State University baseball lost 5-3 and 11-2 against Purdue University Northwest Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals honored eight seniors between games including infielder Tucker Roe, infielder Parker Jatczak, pitcher Nolan Knauf, pitcher Steven Hecht, infielder Martin Money, outfielder Ethan Dufresne, infielder Dylan Golden, pitcher John Fantauzzo, and pitcher Nolan Raymond.
Saginaw Valley (24-20, 14-11) won the first four matchups between them and Purdue Northwest (12-31, 7-19), but dropped the final two as they hunt for the third spot in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) baseball standings. The set up came down to Davenport University beating Grand Valley State University three of the four games and SVSU taking three of four off PNW. DU did win three of four, but the Cardinals split with the Pride and are tied 14-11 in the conference with the Lakers.
Purdue Northwest took multi-run leads in both games as they put up a three spot in the first to start the day. The Pride added two more in the fourth as they attacked Cardinal starter Steven Hecht (L, 2-4). Hecht went through the fifth allowing five runs, four earned, and struck out three.
The offense sparked up in the fifth for SVSU with two outs. Brandon Scheurer singled and moved to third on a Jeffrey Reseigh single before scoring on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Tucker Roe singled home Reseigh to make it 5-2 PNW. In the sixth, Austin Schweiger legged out his second triple of the year. After a Martin Money walk, Reed Raymond grounded out to score Schweiger cutting the lead to two.
Nick Bastian pitched two scoreless innings in relief allowing one hit and a walk while punching out one as well. However, it wasn't enough for SVSU against Ethan Getting (W, 1-0) and Sam Shively (Sv, 1) who closed out game one.
Purdue Northwest got another 3-0 lead in game two with two in the second and one in the third. In the bottom of the fifth, SVSU got within one after a Jaccar Watkins double and a two-run home run by Money. His third long ball of the season and a big moment after being honored as a senior between games.
Ryan Adams (L, 2-3) earned a quality start allowing three runs, two earned through six innings. He also struck out seven batters, but after the home run, the offense was stifled and the Cardinals were never able to tie the game up. JJ Arbini pitched the seventh allowing five runs, three earned and a strikeout. Nolan Knauf pitched two innings with four runs, three earned against and three strikeouts.
Watkins and Scheurer finished the day 3-for-6, Roe went 3-for-7 between both games, and Schweiger was 3-for-8.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals have their final home game on Tuesday as they host Wayne State University (34-9, 20-5). A crucial GLIAC game as SVSU can earn a season-series split and travel to Grand Valley next weekend to end the regular season. It's a Red Out at Saginaw Valley with first pitch scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
