BACK-TO-BACK! Baseball Clinches Share Of Second Straight GLIAC Championship With Sweep At Saginaw Valley

OVERVIEW – SAGINAW VALLEY

SCORE: Northwood Timberwolves 24, Saginaw Valley State Cardinals 1/Northwood 12, Saginaw Valley 2

RECORDS: Northwood 33-14, 20-7 GLIAC / Saginaw Valley 20-27, 5-21 GLIAC

LOCATION: SV Baseball Complex – University Center, Mich.

RECAP: Northwood clinches a share of their second-straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) championship Saturday afternoon (May 5), using a record-breaking performance to win game one 24-1 before posting a 12-2 victory in the nightcap.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• Northwood got things going right away, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning on a home run in the first inning by Javier Martinez.
• A two-out dropped fly ball in the second inning broke the game open – two runs scored on the play for Northwood and kept the inning going. That play was followed by a three-run homer by Javier Martinez and a solo shot by David Vinsky to make the score 8-0.
• The Timberwolves plated three more in the third, starting with a solo home run by Nick Palmer.
• Ryan McClelland then had an RBI double, followed by a Brian Dombrowski RBI single to push the lead to 11-0.
• Northwood plated six more runs in the fourth, thanks to three-run homers by Keaton Sackett and Ryan McClelland to make the score 17-0.
• A two-run homer by Kyle Ziegler in the fifth pushed the lead to 19-0.
• Saginaw Valley got on the board thanks to a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth, but Northwood came right back with four more runs in the top of the sixth. Colin McClelland hit NU's eighth homer of the day, a two-run shot, to make it 21-1. Travis Janes followed with a two-run double to make the score 23-1.
• Northwood rounded out their scoring in the top of the seventh thanks to a Ryan Chargo RBI single to make the final 24-1.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors – Northwood: 24/21/0, Saginaw Valley: 1/6/2
• Runners Left on Base – Northwood: 8, Saginaw Valley: 6
• Winning Pitcher –  Tyler Jandron (8-2): 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, BB, 3 K
• Losing Pitcher – Mason Schwellenbach (3-7): 2 1/3 IP, 9 H, 11 R, (5 ER), BB, 3 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Martinez: 2-2, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBIs
• R. McClelland: 3-6, 2B, HR, 3 R, 4 RBIs
• Vinsky: 2-3, HR, 2 R, 3 RBIs
• C. McClelland: 1-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBIs
• Sackett: 2-3, HR, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBIs
• Palmer: 1-4, HR, RBI
• Ziegler: 2-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBIs
• Janes: 3-5, 3B, 2B, 3 R, 2 RBIs

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• The eight home runs hit in the game set a pair of significant records: the total is a new school record as well as a new record for home runs hit in a GLIAC game. The old GLIAC mark was seven, set by SVSU (at Lake Erie – 4/7/12) and Ohio Dominican (at Walsh – 4/12/17).
• Already the school record holder for wins in a career, Jandron became the first pitcher in school history to reach the 20 victory mark with his win in the game. His two-year record at Northwood now stands at 20-3.

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• After hitting eight home runs in the opening game, the Timberwolves wasted no time getting rolling in game two. Ryan McClelland and Dombrowski opened the game with back-to-back homers, giving Northwood a 2-0 lead after the opening inning.
• Ryan McClelland struck again with a big hit in the top of the second inning. His grand slam to centerfield extended the advantage to 6-0. It was his third homer of the day and fourth of the series.
• Later in the second, Palmer walked with the bases loaded to put NU on top 7-0 after two.
• The Cardinals got a two-out, two-run single in the third inning to cut the Northwood lead to 7-2.
• The Timberwolves responded with their 12th home run of the day in the top of the fourth, as Visky hit his second homer of the day. His solo shot gave NU an 8-2 advantage.
• Northwood got to double-digits with a four-run sixth. Martinez started the scoring with an RBI single, which was followed by a run-scoring single by Colin McClelland. Palmer then plated both Martinez and Colin McClelland with a two-run hit to make the score 12-2.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors – Northwood: 12/13/0, Saginaw Valley: 2/6/1
• Runners Left on Base – Northwood: 9, Saginaw Valley: 5
• Winning Pitcher –  Jake Gross (2-3): 6 1/3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, BB, K
• Losing Pitcher – Alex Millhisler (1-7): 5 1/3 IP, 12 H, 12 R (10 ER), 5 BB, K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• R. McClelland: 2-5, 2 HR, 5 RBIs
• Vinsky: 3-5, HR, 2 R, RBI
• Dombrowski: 1-2, HR, RBI, 3 R
• C. McClelland: 2-3, R, RBI
• Palmer: 1-3, 3 RBI, R
• Janes: 2-4, R

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• This is the second straight GLIAC Championship for Northwood – they had never won a conference title in the first 50 years in program history.
• Northwood hit four more home runs in game two, giving them 12 for the day. They entered the doubleheader with 35 homers in 45 games. 
• With their 47 homers, NU has set a new school record for home runs in a season. The old record was 46, which was set last season.
• NU actually ended up with three wins on the day – the two teams completed the final out of last night's 21-3 nine-inning victory prior to the start of the doubleheader.
• Northwood still needs to win their final regular season game to clinch the outright GLIAC Championship – the Timberwolves remain one game ahead of Davenport with one game remaining.

UP NEXT

• Northwood will finish the regular season with a nine-inning game against the Cardinals. First pitch is set for Noon.