UNIVERSITY CITY, Mich. – The Grand Valley State Lakers split their doubleheader with the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals Monday (April 1) afternoon, falling 9-5 in game one before lack of daylight forced the nightcap to be cut short in a 5-5 tie in the series finale.
 
Game one saw the Lakers score a pair of runs in the first inning when Ryan Blake-Jones singled through the left side and Jacob Gleason followed up with a sacrifice fly. The Cardinals would respond with a six-spot in the home first, chasing GVSU starter Christian Mercure (L, 1-4) with two outs in the frame.
 
The Cardinals added two runs in the second before the teams traded tallies in the fifth. The Lakers scored twice in the top of the seventh to make things interesting, but couldn't complete the comeback.
 
The Cardinals struck first in the nightcap, scoring a single tally in the bottom of the first. Chase Carpenter would answer with a two-run jack in the third to see-saw the Lakers in front before Blake-Jones and Nathan Bonter each drove in a run in the fifth. SVSU scored thanks to a two-out error in the home seventh, but Brett Nearing came in to strand the bases loaded and preserve the lead.
 
Jonathan Catapano would start the eighth with a solo homer to get the run right back and it would prove important, as Saginaw rallied for three runs in the bottom of the frame to tie things up at 5-5. Before the ninth inning could commence, the umpires and teams determined there was not enough daylight to continue and, as the last game of the series, the game ends as a tie.
 
The Lakers play at Hillsdale Wednesday (April 3) before returning to Allendale for their first home games of the year when they host Davenport.