Cards swept by Wayne State

April 25, 2005 —

The Saginaw Valley State University men's baseball team has continued to pour on the runs with a few victories last week that have raised their record to 26-11 (13-7 GLIAC). The record is good enough to put them in third place, one game behind Grand Valley State for second.

The Cardinals have had high expectations after starting off with a 13-3 record in regular season play. The hyped up match-up with #11 ranked Ashland University, which was supposed to be played this past weekend, was cancelled due to inclement weather conditions.

On Wednesday, April 20 the Cardinals were in action with a doubleheader against division-leading Wayne State at home at Cardinal Field. The Warriors proved to be too much for the Cardinals as they took both games in the doubleheader by the scores of 5-1 and 3-0. The excellent pitching from the Warriors prevented the Cardinals bats from amounting any kind of scoring opportunities as they cruised to the two victories.

In game one it was all Warriors pitcher Kyle Hill as he cruised to his league-leading seventh victory with the complete game triumph. Hill blanked the Cardinals by only allowing three hits in seven innings and striking out three along the way. The Warriors struck first with a pair of runs in the second inning. The Cardinals got on the board in the fourth inning when junior Justin Doughty scored on a senior co-captain Chris Norton RBI single into right field.

Sophomore Scott Schlaff went the distance for the Cardinals, giving up eight hits, five earned runs, and striking out eight in the complete game loss.

Game two was all Wayne State as they again rode strong pitching to the 3-0 victory. The Cardinals could not get any offense rolling against Warriors pitcher Ryan Mosher. Mosher pitched his third straight complete game shutout, allowing one hit and striking out four.

Stellar defense in the late innings propelled Mosher to the victory over the Cardinals. The Cardinals' lone hit came off the bat of senior Justin Hanning when he delivered a single to left field in the fifth inning. Junior Jim Kelly went the distance and took the loss for the Cardinals, allowing one earned run off five hits and also striking out five.

A day earlier the Cardinals took their offensive clinic to the max against Calvin College in a 20-6 drubbing of the Knights.

Junior Aaron Dorgan picked up the win for the Cardinals as he tossed five innings and allowed two earned runs while striking out four. The Cardinals rode the hot bat of senior Joe Funsch who did all his damage in the Cardinals' 11-run second inning. Funsch hit a two run single the first time up, and then he muscled out his first career grand slam his second time up to give him six RBI in the inning.

Norton gives a lot of credit to the offense for the outburst in runs. He knows that if the Cardinals want to take a run at the GLIAC championship then the offense has to provide some support.

"Anyone in the lineup can put up big numbers," he said. "The lineup from top to bottom has been a definite plus. We are really deep at every position and our pitching will benefit from our offensive production."

The Cardinals have a tough task ahead of them as they continue on their way to close their season with four key doubleheaders.

The treacherous schedule starts with a rivalry game with Northwood on Wednesday, and then a pair of doubleheaders at Findlay on Saturday and Sunday. The season will culminate with a rematch against league-leading Wayne State on Wednesday, May 4 in Detroit.