CHICAGO – The Saginaw Valley State University baseball team closed out the regular season in strong fashion Saturday, sweeping Roosevelt in a doubleheader to secure the No. 4 seed in the upcoming GLIAC Tournament. The Cardinals (26-23, 12-12 GLIAC) defeated the Lakers (12-37, 3-21 GLIAC) 3-2 in the opener before earning a 7-4 victory in the nightcap.
Game One: Cardinals 3, Lakers 2 (7-innings)
Roosevelt scored in the first on an RBI double, then added another run in the third on a wild pitch to take a 2-0 lead.
The Cardinals responded in the fourth when Connor Cornwell (Sterling Heights, Mich. / Henry Ford II HS) singled to center to score Buck Snabes (Rochester, Mich. / Rochester Adams HS) and cut the deficit to 2-1. In the fifth, Chase Miller (Walkerton, Ind. / John Glenn HS) scored on a Snabes RBI single that tied the game at 2-2.
Saginaw Valley grabbed the lead for good in the sixth. Cornwell doubled and was replaced by Aiden Robinson (South Lyon, Mich. / South Lyon HS), who moved to third on a balk and came home on a wild pitch to give the Cardinals a 3-2 advantage.
Jack Sequin (Bay City, Mich. / Bay City Western HS) started and allowed two runs over three innings before Jack Decker (W, 4-1) (Farmington Hills, Mich. / North Farmington HS) delivered four strong scoreless frames in relief, striking out five to seal the win.
Game Two: Cardinals 7, Lakers 4
Saginaw Valley plated three runs in the first inning as Ryan Jarvis (Macomb, Mich. / Dakota HS) delivered an RBI single, Snabes brought home a run on a fielder's choice, and another run scored on a wild pitch.
Roosevelt answered with two runs in the bottom of the first and tied the game at 3-3 with a solo home run in the second.
The Cardinals regained control in the third when Mitchell Walters (Shepherd, Mich. / Shepherd HS) lifted a sacrifice fly to score Aaron Bess (Boyne City, Mich. / Boyne City HS). In the fourth, Lucas Mead (Gladwin, Mich. / Gladwin HS) blasted his sixth home run of the year, a two-run shot down the left-field line to push the lead to 6-3.
After Roosevelt scratched across a run in the seventh, Jarvis added insurance in the ninth with a solo home run to right field to make it 7-4. The home run was his seventh of the year to tie Bess for the team lead.
Henry Stempky (W, 3-2) (Cheboygan, Mich. / Cheboygan HS) provided three scoreless innings in relief to steady the game after the early back-and-forth, while Chase Raymond (Standish, Mich. / Standish Sterling Central HS) recorded the final three outs to earn the save.
Ethan Scheib (Mattawan, Mich. / Mattawan HS) went 3-for-4 with two runs scored in game two, while Jarvis finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and a home run. Mead added two RBI with his fourth-inning blast.
Up Next: Saginaw Valley baseball concluded their regular season and head into the GLIAC Tournament on Thursday, May 7 as the four-seed. The Cardinals will play Davenport on Thursday at UWM Field in Utica, Michigan.