The Grand Valley State baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader against the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals on Friday afternoon as they fall to 8-14 overall and 1-5 in conference play. They will be back in action against SVSU tomorrow afternoon for a single nine-inning game at 2:00 PM before a 1:00 PM matchup on Sunday.
Both
Ryan Blake-Jones and
Anthony Cocco connected for two RBI's each to lead the Laker offense while
Drake Ellens,
Nathan Bonter, and
Joe Laudont all added one each.
Brendan Nearing was tagged with the loss in game one as he falls to 0-1 on the season while
Rylan Peets falls to an even 2-2 with the loss in game two.
The Cardinals took an early 1-0 lead over the Lakers in the first game of the twin bill after a two-out single found its way through the right side for the first run of the day in the second inning. Both teams would remain scoreless over the next five innings before GVSU took their first lead of the day after a three run sixth inning. Cocco led off with a single and eventually scored after a Blake-Jones single that also brought around Murdie from second base. A suicide squeeze was successful one batter later as Ellens put down a perfect bunt to score a streaking Carpenter from third.
Unfortunately, the Cardinals tallied an RBI single and another 2 RBI single to take the 4-3 lead, which they would hold through the final inning.
The Cardinals got on the board early in game two as well, scoring two in the bottom of the first. They would add another in the bottom of the third to go up 3-0 as their pitching held the Laker offense down.
The Lakers started their comeback bid in the top of the seventh inning when Lorber was hit by a pitch and Mandeville knocked a single into right field before Cocco delivered a big two-out triple to score both and cut the lead in half, 4-2.
SVSU once again added a run in the seventh and the Lakers answered with two more in the top of the eighth as Bonter and a pinch-hitting Laudont delivered RBI singles. Despite a leadoff single in the top of the ninth inning however, the bid came up just short as they fell in another one run game, this time 5-4.