Cardinals get back to winning ways, take four of five

Team uses solid pitching, balanced offense to beat Northwood, Findlay

April 24, 2006 —

by Brandon Kish

Junior leftfielder Chris Hanna laces a sixth-inning RBI double in a 12-2 victory over the Findlay Oilers. The Cards defeated Findlay in two of the three games played over the weekend.

by Brandon Kish

First baseman Pete Vanderkolk grabs an errant throw by shortstop Justin Gouthro in the first inning of Saturday's Game 2 against Findlay. The Cards eventually lost the game 6-5 in 12 innings.

After several consecutive disappointing weeks in which the SVSU baseball team went a combined 3-16, the Cardinals finally managed to come out on top, going 4-1 in a week that featured two shutout wins over Northwood and two more victories over the University of Findlay.

The Cardinals shut down Northwood at home Wednesday against the rival Timberwolves, posting a 4-0 victory in Game 1 and an 8-0 win in Game 2.

In Game 1, junior righthander Scott Schlaff went the distance on the mound for the Cards, allowing only four hits and posting four strikeouts in picking up his sixth win of the season.

At the plate, junior leftfielder Chris Hanna went 2-for-3 with one run scored and another driven in while senior second baseman Justin Doughty chipped in two hits as well. Freshman designated hitter Pete Vanderkolk, sophomore centerfielder Reed Welker, and freshman shortstop Justin Gouthro had an RBI apiece.

In Game 2, pitching was again the story as senior Aaron Dorgan notched the Cards' second complete game of the day in an 8-0 win. Dorgan worked all seven innings, allowing six hits and striking out three in running his record to 2-2 on the season.

Offensively, Vanderkolk added two more hits and two RBI while sophomore centerfielder Reed Welker drove in two. Senior Jason Burghardt finished 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored. Overall, only one starter failed to pick up a hit on the afternoon as the Cards tallied 10 hits total.

In Game 1 Saturday, the Cards continued their winning ways, peppering Findlay with 16 hits in a 12-2 blowout victory.

The Cardinals were up 8-0 heading into the fourth, which proved plenty of support for sophomore Scott Roy who went six innings in picking up the win. Roy struck out six and allowed only three hits and is now 3-1 on the season.

Hanna, Welker, Burghardt, and sophomore third baseman Brent Skiba each hit doubles for the Cardinals as the team tallied five extra-base hits on the afternoon. Sophomore designated hitter Brandon Fanion also slugged his third home run of the season, a three-run shot in the third inning. Vanderkolk added three hits and Hanna two of his own in what turned out to be a balanced overall offensive effort for the Cards.

Game 2 was a different story, though, as the Cards dropped their third extra-inning game in just over a week, losing 6-5 in 12 innings. The Cards suffered defensively, committing four errors leading to three unearned Oilers' runs, the most costly of which occurred in the top of the 12th.

With one out, Findlay leftfielder George Rohan reached base on an error by rightfielder Chris Hess. Rohan then advanced to third on a double before scoring on a sacrifice fly to give Findlay the lead. The Cards could not mount a comeback and went down in order in the bottom of the inning.

Junior Ben Esparza suffered the hard-luck loss despite giving up only one hit. For the game, the Cards' pitching was solid, led by freshman starter Jon Herendeen. Herendeen went 7 1/3 innings, giving up only two earned runs. Four relievers, including Esparza, finished out the game.

Welker, Burghardt, and Skiba paced the team offensively as Welker went 3-for-5 with his third home run of the season while Burghardt and Skiba added two hits apiece.

The Cards bounced back in what turned out to be the only game Sunday as the second game of the doubleheader was cancelled due to rain.

The Cards picked up an 8-4 victory thanks to the combined efforts of Schlaff and sophomore catcher Max Bell. Schlaff went the distance and recorded 10 strikeouts in picking up his team-leading seventh win.

On the season, Schlaff has been the clear ace of the staff, leading the team by a large margin in several categories including wins, innings pitched, and strikeouts.

Despite Schlaff's performance, Bell was the big story, swatting two three-run home runs in helping the Cards come back from an early 4-0 deficit. Bell slugged a mammoth homer to right in a five-run fourth inning and added another blast in the bottom of the fifth. Bell's six RBI on the day match a Cardinals season high.

After the game, coach Walt Head said he was pleased with the team's effort in winning four of its last five games despite struggling for most of the season.

"We got some good pitching, got some defense, and we got some players back that contributed and that's the difference," he said. "When you're playing with your second-string guys all the time it's difficult to expect them to go against the other team's first team all the time."

Though Head said this season has been one of the most disappointing in his 24 years leading the Cardinals, he says the team's talented young players should make the next few seasons much better and give the team a bright future to look forward to.

"If we can finish and win some games here at the end, we can kind of point toward next year," Head said. "That'll be good for us."

The Cardinals will return to action Wednesday when they host Wayne State for a 2 p.m. doubleheader. The Cardinals dropped the previous two meetings against the Warriors, who are currently fifth in the GLIAC standings.