May 9
Baseball
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Saginaw Valley Clips GVSU, 7-6

ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State Cardinals erased a 4-0 deficit in the second inning to claim a 7-6 victory over Grand Valley State, Friday in second-round action of the GLIAC Tournament.
    Right-handed pitcher Scott Corby (London, Ontario) tossed nine solid innings and the Cardinals rallied with a pair of two-run homers for their second straight victory in the Tournament. The Cardinals improved to 30-16, while the Lakers fell to 35-12-1.
    GVSU opened the scoring in a big way, as the Cardinals gave up their second grand slam in as many days. Elijah Beckwith did the damage for GVSU, smacking his third home run of the year and giving the Lakers an early four-run cushion.
    Dan Jones (Gladstone, Mich.) singled to center field to lead of the second innings for SVSU. Eric Caldwell (Cary Grove, Ill.) drew his eleventh walk of the season and Kurt Neveau (Bay City, Mich./Central HS) cut the deficit in half on a two-run double. Two batters later, center fielder Kyle Weessies (Climax, Mich.) evened the score, 4-4, with a two-run blast to deep right field.
    The Lakers regained the lead in the top of the fourth on a Jeremy Lundberg sacrifice fly to right filed, scoring Matt Wright from third base. Wright’s single, swipe of second base, and a Cardinal throwing error set up the go-ahead run.
    Trailing 5-4, SVSU rallied to score a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Mike Crawford (Lake Orion, Mich.) laced a two-out single to left field and advanced to second on an error by the pitcher. Jones, the designated hitter, took a two-strike pitch and deposited it over the right field fence, lifting SVSU to a 6-5 advantage. Jones would finish the game 2-for-2 with a home run, two walks, and two RBI.
    In the top of the sixth, the Lakers’ Joe Mertes tied the game with his team-leading ninth home run of the season.
    SVSU chased starting pitcher Phil Mixter in the seventh inning, after Sean Odamura (Mississauga, Ontario) doubled and T.J. Lehnertz (Grand Rapids, Mich.Catholic Central HS) walked. Mixter exited after throwing 6.1 innings with ten strikeouts and three walks. Reliever Nick Bultema retired his first batter, but issued back-to-back walks to Jones and Adam Piggott (Sarnia, Ontario), walking in what turned out to be the winning run for SVSU.
    Ace pitcher, Corby held the Lakers off the scoreboard in the final two innings for the
7-6 victory. Corby pitched his seventh complete-game of the season and improved his overall record to 9-1. He gave up six runs (five earned) on eight hits, while striking out five and walking two.
    The Cardinals will return to action Saturday (May 10) as they await the winner of the Ashland and Grand Valley 12:00p.m. contest. The winner will meet SVSU in the finals, slated for a 3:00 p.m. start.

Game Summary:     Box Score
GVSU 400 101 000   6 8 1
SVSU 040 020 10x    7 7 2

WP- ScottCorby (9-1) 9IP, 8H, 6R, 5ER, 5K, 2BB
LP- Phil Mixter (9-3) 6.1IP, 6H, 7R, 7ER, 10K, 3BB

Contact: Daniel Tata (989) 964-4933

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