Newsfeed
Printer-Friendly ModeCards take over fourth in GLIAC
April 16, 2007 —
SVSU needed two wins Saturday to move closer to postseason contention. Their top two pitchers got them.
Junior Scott Roy and senior Scott Schlaff both went the distance at Findlay, beating the Oilers 7-4 and 9-2, respectively. The wins improved the Cards' record to 8-6 in the GLIAC and put them in fourth spot in the conference standings. They sit one game ahead of Wayne State, which dropped to 7-7 Sunday after losing twice to Grand Valley, for the final spot in the postseason tournament.
Roy began the first game shaky, giving up four runs in the first two innings. He settled down from there, though, and didn't allow another run, allowing the Cards to come back with three runs in the top of the sixth to tie the game at 4.
The Oilers loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but Roy forced Drew Romigh to ground out into a fielder's choice and then got Matt Wilson to fly out to end the inning.
The Cards threatened in the top of the eighth with two hits, but were unable to score. Roy continued his dominant performance by putting the Oilers down in order in the bottom of the eighth.
Sophomore Kevin Schwedler set the table for the Cards' decisive ninth, doubling down the leftfield line to lead off the inning. Sophomore Andy Plouff bunted him over, and after senior Chris Hanna walked, junior Max Bell singled to score Schwedler and advanced on an error by third basemen Jeff Peters that scored Hanna. Two batters later, junior Reed Welker singled in Bell to put the Cards up three.
Roy proceeded to shut down the Oilers in the ninth, sitting them down in order again. He scattered 11 hits and struck out eight in the win, which improved his record to 4-1 on the season.
SVSU got 14 hits off three Oilers pitchers and were aided by three Findlay errors. Bell went 2-for-5 and scored twice, while Welker went 4-for-5 with a run and the final RBI of the game. In just his 10th start of the season, Schwedler went 2-for-4.
Schlaff was even more dominant in the second game. Like Roy, he was shaky at first, allowing a two-run homer by Chad Geuy in the first inning that tied the game at two. He allowed just one hit from that point on, striking out nine and walking just one as the Cards provided more than enough run support in the 9-2 victory. The win brought Schlaff back to .500 on the season at 4-4.
The Cards were up just 4-2 until the sixth inning, when the Oilers' Troy Balduf came on in relief of starter Bryce Whittington. Junior Ken Hoffman started off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Schwedler and then to third on a groundout by freshman Chase Coulter. After Hanna and redshirt freshman Josh Peterson walked to load the bases, sophomore Pete Vanderkolk singled to score two runs.
The seventh inning was no different for SVSU, as they again loaded the bases with just one out. Coulter walked, which scored Welker, then Hanna hit a two-run single to put the Cards up 9-2.
Hanna went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and a run from the leadoff spot, while Vanderkolk and Welker went 2-for-3 each with two RBIs and three RBIs, respectively.
The Cards split with the Oilers the day before, getting a dominating start from pitcher Andrew Doyle. The freshman pitched a shutout in the first game, a 4-0 win, striking out 13 batters while giving up just three hits and one walk.
The second game was a different story, as redshirt freshman Scott Haase was chased in the bottom of the fifth after allowing the Oilers to go up 3-2. Senior Jeff Schulz came on in relief and gave up two runs in the bottom of the sixth after SVSU had gone up 4-3 in the top of the inning. The Cards loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh, but were unable to capitalize and lost 5-4.
SVSU travels to Detroit on Wednesday to play Wayne State at 2 p.m., a doubleheader that is crucial to the Cards' postseason hopes. The Cards follow that with a trip to Erie, Pa. to play two doubleheaders against Gannon over the weekend.