GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Davenport baseball team continued its strong conference play last weekend with a four-game sweep against Parkside. Davenport improved to 11-1 in league action and is in first place by four games over Grand Valley State, which is 11-5. This week's opponent is Saginaw Valley State, who enters with a record of 22-12 overall and is in fourth place in the GLIAC with a 7-5 record. DU this week has already played Central Michigan and fell 14-4 in Mt. Pleasant. The Panthers are currently ranked No. 17 in NCAA Division II according to the ABCA Coaches Poll.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
It was a very fruitful endeavor against Parkside last weekend as the Panthers restored order in the clubhouse after getting swept in four games against Lewis in non-conference action. The Panthers played with a chip on their shoulder, and it was evident by the numbers against a much-improved Ranger program. DU batted .378 as a team in the sweep and outscored the Rangers 45-7. The Ranger bats were silenced as they entered the series ranked No. 9 in Division II in team batting average and were held to a .145 batting average against stout Panther pitching. The team ERA for Davenport was a paltry 1.41, allowing just five earned runs in 32 innings on the mound. On the flip side, Parkside had a team ERA of 11.89 and gave up 37 earned runs in 28 innings of work.

Keegan Batka won his third GLIAC Pitcher of the Week honors this season after crafting a masterpiece in game one of the series. He struck out a season-high 11 batters in six innings and yielded just one earned run on three hits. Austin VanderMarkt also turned in his best performance this season on Sunday as he went a career-high eight innings and combined on a shutout. He allowed no runs on two hits with no walks and four strikeouts. There were a total of six pitchers who threw at least one inning and did not give up a run.

The offense was paced by Garrett Swan, who got one start but made the most of it. He drove in a season-high five runs, becoming just the second Panther to drive in five runs this season on Sunday. He had a double and a home run, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and a stolen base. Justin Johnson carried a hot stick, going 7-of-12 (.583) with two doubles, his first triple of the season, a home run, and tied for the team lead with seven RBI. Xander Reisbig batted .500 (7-for-14) with seven RBI to match Johnson. He scored five runs in the Parkside series and had two doubles and two home runs. Michael Tchavdarov scored six runs and hit .308 (4-for-13) with a double and triple.
Taking a look at some single-season record watch list numbers, the team is currently third in stolen base percentage (72-89, .809), fewest walks per nine innings (3.31), and fielding percentage (.971). In addition, they are fourth in opponents' batting average (.234) and tied for fifth in saves with 10. Individually, Brandon Skorupski is third with an opponents' batting average of .163. Cody Hultink is 16-of-18 in stolen bases, which is tied for sixth percentage-wise. Tchavdarov has a total of five sacrifice flies, which is tied for 10th. Batka is ninth with 1.83 fewest walks per nine innings. Dylan Pawenski is sixth in fielding percentage at .994 with 162 putouts, 15 assists, and just one error.

SERIES HISTORY
It does not get any more even than 16 wins for each team in the all-time series between Davenport and SVSU on the diamond. The Panthers are hoping to end a four-game losing skid against the Cardinals, who did advance to the NCAA Super Regional last year. The teams met seven times last season with the Cardinals winning six of those games to pull even in the all-time series. DU's lone win was 4-3 in game on April 13, 2024. Logan Todd had a solo home run in the second inning and finished 2-for-3, also with a double in the eighth spot of the lineup. Josh Robinson had a double while going 2-for-3. Coltrane Rubner homered in the fourth inning, and Anthony Aloisio went 2-for-3 with two RBI. The Panthers have a record of 5-7 at home against the Cardinals.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
Saginaw Valley State put together a seven-game winning streak during the season at the end of March to propel them to 10 games over .500. The Cardinals have the 157th toughest strength of schedule so far in Division II, with their opponent win percentage of .492. In comparison, Davenport ranks first in opponent win percentage at .668. SVSU leads the conference in scoring at 7.6 runs per game. They also have drawn 208 walks, which is also tops in the GLIAC. The pitching staff has relied on the strikeout as a recipe for success. They rank first in the league and sixth in Division II with 10 strikeouts per nine innings.

Lucas Mead has been a terror for opposing pitchers this season. He has the nation's top batting average of .471 and leads the GLIAC in on-base percentage (.581) and slugging percentage (.723). He has 29 runs scored, eight doubles, five triples, four home runs, and 31 RBI. Austin Cicerone is batting .306 with a team-high 33 runs scored, six doubles, two home runs, and 26 RBI. Ryan Jarvis is hitting .309 with 30 runs scored, a team-high 11 doubles, two triples, one home run, and 25 RBI.
Jack Decker is in the discussion for GLIAC Pitcher of the Year, as displayed by his 8-0 record and 1.94 ERA in 51 innings. He has walked 12 and struck out 53 with opponents' hitting just .211 against him. J.J. Arbini has a 5-2 record with a 2.40 ERA in 41.1 innings. He has allowed 25 hits with 22 walks and 43 strikeouts.  

LIVE COVERAGE
Thursday, Apr. 17 vs. Saginaw Valley State – 3:00 PM – Live Video (FloCollege) – Live Stats
Friday, Apr. 18 vs. Saginaw Valley State (DH) – 1:00 PM – Live Video (FloCollege) – Live Stats
Saturday, Apr. 19 vs. Saginaw Valley State – 12:00 PM – Live Video (FloCollege) – Live Stats