Baseball Finishes Weekend Sweep Of Saginaw Valley With Two Wins

OVERVIEW – SAGINAW VALLEY

SCORES: Northwood Timberwolves 10, Saginaw Valley State Cardinals 8/Northwood 13, Saginaw Valley 4

RECORDS: Northwood 23-12, 9-7 GLIAC/Saginaw Valley 13-18-1, 7-8-1 GLIAC

LOCATION: Gerace Stadium – Midland, Mich.

RECAP: Baseball completes weekend sweep over Saginaw Valley Saturday (April 13), with the Timberwolves earning wins by the scores of 10-8 and 13-4.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS (SEVEN INNING GAME)

• Saginaw Valley got on the board first thanks once again to the Adam Turner. He hit his fourth home run of the series in the first inning, a three-run shot.
• The Timberwolves responded in the bottom of the first thanks to a two-run single by Kyle Ziegler.
• SVSU put three more runs on the board in the second inning to take a 6-2 lead.
• Northwood responded in a big way in the bottom of the third, starting with a two-run double by Nick Palmer.
• Trevor Polewka followed with a double of his own to score Palmer to cut the lead to one at 6-5.
• Keaton Sackett then tied the game with an RBI triple to right center.
• Northwood finished the rally with a Jacob Rybicki RBI double that made the score 7-6 after three innings.
• Both teams hit home runs in the fifth, with SVSU getting a solo shot in the top of the inning followed by a two-run homer to center field by Ziegler, sending the game to the sixth with the score 9-7.
• SVSU cut the lead back to one in the top of the sixth.
• Ziegler plated his fifth RBI of the game on an infield single in the bottom of the sixth.
• Lennon Gwizdala then closed the game out, finishing the contest with a double play with the tying run on base.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors – Northwood: 10/14/2, Saginaw Valley: 8/7/0
• Runners Left on Base – Northwood: 6, Saginaw Valley: 5
• Winning Pitcher – Grant Smith (1-0): 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB
• Losing Pitcher – Nolan Knauf (0-1): 1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, K
• Save – Lennon Gwizdala (5): 3 2/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Ziegler: 3-4, HR, 5 RBI
• Palmer: 2-2, 2 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI
• Sackett: 2-2, 3B, R, RBI
• Polewka: 2-4, 2B, R, RBI
• Vinsky: 2-4, 2 R

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS (NINE INNING GAME)

• The Timberwolves got one the board in the first inning on a sacrifice fly.
• Northwood made it 2-0 in the second thanks to a run coming home on a double play.
• Palmer kept his big weekend going with an RBI single in the third, finishing a stretch where the Timberwolves plated a single run in each of the first three innings.
• The Cardinals responded with one in the fourth and two in the sixth to tie the game at 3-3.
• Northwood wasted no time taking the lead back in the bottom of the inning. Palmer, the leadoff hitter, hit a home run to right center that put the Timberwolves back on top 4-3.
• Saginaw Valley came right back with a run of their own in the top of the seventh to once again tie the game at 4-4.
• That would prove to be the last run for SVSU for the game, as the Timberwolves took over from that point. Vinsky gave the Timberwolves back the lead in the bottom of the seventh with a long home run to left field.
• The big inning of the game proved to be the eighth, which got going with Palmer's second home run of the day that made the score 6-4.
• Northwood got another run on a double steal, which got away from the Cardinals and allowed Ziegler to score.
• Rybicki followed with an RBI single that made the lead 8-4.
• Khale Showers extended the advantage with a run-scoring triple to centerfield and later scored on a passed ball that got the Timberwolves to double figures at 10-4.
• Ziegler finished off his big day with a three-run double that cleared the bases. That finished off an eight-run frame that saw Northwood hit for the cycle in the inning.
• Northwood held SVSU off the board in the ninth to close out the series sweep.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors – Northwood: 13/13/0, Saginaw Valley: 4/10/2
• Runners Left on Base – Northwood: 6, Saginaw Valley: 9
• Winning Pitcher – Peter Joseph (1-1): 1 2/3 IP, 2 H, R, BB, 3 K
• Losing Pitcher – Jordan Swiss (0-2): 2 IP, 9 H, 9 R, 3 BB

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Palmer: 3-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
• Vinsky: 3-4, 2B, HR, 3 R, RBI
• Colin McClelland: 2-5, 2B
• Ziegler: 1-3, 2B, 3 RBI

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• Northwood has now swept Saginaw Valley in each of the last two seasons. NU has now gone 11-1 against the Cardinals over the last three years.

UP NEXT

• Northwood and Saginaw Valley will play a non-conference game at Dow Diamond in Midland Tuesday night (April 16). First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.