GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport baseball team will look to establish their second three-game win streak of the season as they travel to national receiving votes (NCBWA) Saginaw Valley State in a four-game set in University Center, Michigan this weekend. The Cardinals are currently leading the GLIAC with an 11-3 record while the Panthers are fourth and looking to move up the standings at 5-7. SVSU is also third in the latest Midwest Regional rankings also produced by the NCBWA. The two teams did already play twice earlier this season with the Cardinals getting two wins on March 29 in Caledonia (3-2, 10-7).

LAST WEEK'S ACTION
The Panthers concluded their season series against Purdue Northwest with a 4-2 record and split four games last weekend at The Farm. The Pride took Friday's contest 5-3 and won game one on Saturday 3-2. The Panthers rebounded with the final two wins of the series with a 9-5 win in game two on Saturday and a 10-3 victory on Sunday.

Davenport scored the first two runs in Friday's game in the second inning on a RBI single by Xander Reisbig and Connor Hnilo. The Pride then would score the next five runs including the momentum-shifting hit which was a Beldon Glasgow three-run home run in the sixth inning for a 4-2 lead. The Panthers would score one more time in the ninth inning as Jared Evans had a RBI double. Hnilo was the tying run at the plate with two outs but struck out to end the game. The win belonged to Sam Ochoa (1-2) going seven innings with two runs, one walk, and two strikeouts. Carson Fischer (1-6) took the loss for DU going a season-high eight innings and allowing three earned runs with a walk and six strikeouts. He is currently ranked third in the GLIAC this season with 47 strikeouts.

Luke Montgomery for Purdue Northwest played the hero in the first game on Saturday as he drove in the winning run in the top of the seventh inning off Tyler Kapa. The Pride got a one-out walk by Cole Olson and he took second on a passed ball. Aden Johnson had a bunt single towards the pitcher and Olson took third with the go-ahead run. After a great defensive play by Anthony Aloisio to nab Olson at the plate after a suicide squeeze bunt for the second out, Montgomery delivered the two-out RBI single to left center on a 3-2 pitch to score Johnson. The Panthers did load the bases in the bottom of the seventh but Josh Robinson grounded out to first to end the game. Evans finished 2-for-3 with a walk and run and was the only player in the game with multiple hits. Evans had a great season series against the Pride batting .471 with eight hits in 17 at-bats. Andrew Petsche earned his fifth save of the season getting the final two outs. Kapa (0-2) took the loss in his one inning of work.

The bats warmed up during the final two games as DU scored 19 runs in their wins. The second game on Saturday saw DU jump out 4-0 with two runs in the first and second innings. Robinson had a RBI triple and Aloisio had a RBI groundout in the first. Hnilo reached on a fielding error and Coltrane Rubner scored in the second and Michael Tchavdarov also had a RBI single in the second. Purdue Northwest would tie the game in the sixth inning as Hayden Matulich launched a three-run home run to left center to make it 4-4. The Pride took a 5-4 lead in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Drake Ballard, but the Panthers then finished the game with five straight runs. Robinson had the big hit in the seventh with a three-run jack to right field which made it 7-5. Hnilo added insurance runs in the eighth with a two-RBI single to center. Robinson drove in four runs and also had a triple with two runs scored. Rubner, Hnilo, and Aloisio each had two hits apiece with Rubner collecting a double and scoring twice. Sawyer Meeuwes (0-1) took the loss in 1.1 relief innings for the Pride. Brayden Flanders (1-1) got his first win as a Panther with three stellar relief innings allowing no hits with three strikeouts.

Sunday's affair was pretty stress free after three closer games to start the weekend. DU jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings and never trailed. Aloisio went 3-for-3 with a double and four RBI. Tchavdarov went 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. Robinson collected two hits including a double and drove in a pair of runs. DU pounded 17 hits and eight of the nine starters recorded a hit. Austin VanderMarkt (3-1) had a great start to earn the win. He went six innings and allowed just one hit with two walks and five strikeouts.

Davenport batted .314 in the six-game season series against Purdue Northwest compared to just .176 for the Pride. Tchavdarov batted .435 going 10-for-23 with six runs scored. The team ERA was 2.06 in 48 innings with eight walks and 49 strikeouts. Robinson also batted .409 (9-for-22) and drove in a team-high eight runs against the Pride.

SERIES HISTORY
Davenport owns a 15-12 record against the Cardinals despite dropping both games earlier this season back on March 29. The Panthers have dropped four of their last five against SVSU dating back to last season. The Panthers had won the previous five straight games before falling in four of the last five. Davenport was enjoyed an 8-4 record on the road in University Center over the years. The last time that DU played in University Center they scored 69 runs in a four-game series and won three of those four games. The Panthers have four games in their all-time history at Saginaw Valley State in which they have scored 20-plus runs in a game on the road.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Cardinals have really turned things around in 2024 with a 23-9 record. They nearly have as many wins as all of last season when they posted a 27-24 overall record. The Cardinals have some impressive non-conference wins under their belt against current regionally-ranked teams in Findlay and Maryville. They also have two wins over Walsh by scores of 13-1 and 12-4 which were played on March 6-7 in Tucson, Arizona. SVSU rattled off nine straight wins against NCAA Division II opponents from March 25 until April 6 to put themselves in a good spot to contend for the GLIAC regular season title. The Cardinals have not won the GLIAC regular season title since a share with GVSU in 2004.

The offense is formidable for Saginaw Valley State and currently they have the top four RBI producers in the league. Hayden Jatczak already has driven in 53 runs and the next closest is Austin Schweiger with 36. Reed Raymond is one behind Schweiger and Colin Cornwell is one behind Raymond. Jatczak has made a strong case for GLIAC Player and Pitcher of the Year. He ranks second in the conference in runs (50), first in hits (56), first in doubles (15), first in home runs (10), and second in batting average (.452). On the mound, he ranks fourth in wins (4), fourth in strikeouts (34), and has a 1.72 ERA in 31.1 innings pitched.

LIVE COVERAGE
Saturday, April 13 (DH) 1:00 PM - Live Video (FloSports) - Live Stats Game 1 - Live Stats Game 2
Sunday, April 14 (DH) 12:00 PM - Live Video (FloSports) - Live Stats Game 1 - Live Stats Game 2