May 16
Baseball
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                                      Cards Hang On To Win Opener 9-6   

                                                                                                                                                           Box Score
Ashland, Ohio- Saginaw Valley State University opened the NCAA North Central Regional baseball tournament with a bang, defeating the number-two seeded Northern Kentucky Norse 9-6 on Thursday (May 16). Cardinal starter Heath Craven (Hartland) improved his record to 9-0 on the season, going 6.2 innings before giving way to Toby Larkin (Bridgeport) who shut the door the rest of the way to earn his third save.
   The teams traded runs early as Eric Caldwell (Cary Grove, Ill./Mott CC) battled through a nine-pitch at bat, eventually doubling to deep right center to score Sean Odamura (Mississauga, Ont.) NKU answered in the bottom half of the first, hitting triple, a single and a double to plate two Norse runs. Saginaw fired right back with runs in the next five innings. Jay Scott (Burlington, Ont.) tripled home two in the second inning to give SVSU the lead. Single runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings book ended a three-run fourth inning. In that inning, Caldwell smashed a 1-1 offering past the left field fence for two runs and Adam Piggot (Sarnia, Ont.) made it back-to-back homers when he blasted a pitch over the deepest past of the ballpark in centerfield.
   With a 9-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Norse rallied to make it interesting. Five hits in the inning gave the Norse four runs and closed the gap to three at
9-6. Larkin came-in to get the Cards out of trouble in the seventh and didn't allow a hit in his 2.1 innings of work, keeping the Norse rally on the shelf.
   The Cards advance in the winners bracket tomorrow at 1 p.m. when they'll meet the winner of today's other first-round game between GLIAC rivals (#4) Grand Valley State and (#1) Ashland. The double elimination tournament continues until Saturday.

Game Notes:
· The Cards scored in each of the first six innings.
· SVSU is now 19-0 when either Heath Craven or Rob Conley takes the mound this season.
· Adam Piggot hit his tenth homer of the season, giving him 16 for his career, tied for tenth-best all-time at SVSU.
· Eric Caldwell hammered his sixth homer of the season, despite starting just 27 games this season.
· SVSU advances to the winners bracket with the win. The Cards lost their openers in 2000 and 2001, their last two playoff appearances.
· Eight of the nine Cardinal starters had a hit and seven of the nine scored a run. Four Cards had multiple hits as Eric Caldwell led the way with three hits, three RBI and two runs scored.

Contact: Jason Yaman (989) 964-4053

 

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