April begins with road games at Hillsdale and Saginaw Valley State

4/1/2026 10:10:00 AM | By: Ryan Thompson, Assistant AD for Communications

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Panthers are coming off a challenging four-game set against then No. 7 (NCBWA) Wayne State in which the teams split those games two apiece in an entertaining series at the Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex.

Wayne State won game one and four of the series, while Davenport won games two and three. Davenport held a 4-1 lead in game one on Friday, only to see the Warriors rally with six straight runs in the eighth and ninth innings for the 7-4 win. Drew Hill had a two-RBI triple in the eighth, which was the key blow to start the momentum in favor of WSU. Sean Knorr of the Panthers and Will Lowery of the Warriors dueled in the first five innings to a 1-1 tie. Knorr did not allow a hit until the first batter of the sixth inning. Lowery went 5.1 innings and struck out six Panthers.

DU took a 9-4 win on Saturday behind the late-inning magic of their own. Trailing 4-3 through six innings, Dylan Pawenski had a two-RBI double in the seventh to give the Panthers a 5-4 lead. Ben Korson followed with a two-RBI double, and Justin Johnson put an exclamation mark on the game with a two-run homer to left center in the eighth inning. Gabe Helder got the win in relief, going the final four innings and allowing no runs on two hits in four strikeouts.

Easton Remick was the story in game one of a doubleheader on Sunday in a 2-1 victory over the Warriors. He threw a complete-game, two-hitter while striking out a season-high seven batters. He tossed 100 pitches in his seven innings of work and got his second win of the season. Aiden Warn provided the offense with a two-RBI double down the right field line in the first inning.

Wayne State salvaged the split with a 10-5 win in game two on Sunday. Philip Miller improved to 3-0 on the mound with six innings of work and gave up eight hits and three earned runs for WSU. DU's defense committed three costly errors, resulting in just two of the 10 runs by Wayne State being earned. Jaden Alberson was stellar in relief with three innings of one-hit ball with no walks and three strikeouts. Sam Clay tripled as one of his two hits in four at-bats and scored a run. Wyatt Epple went 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Korson homered for the second time this season, a two-run blast down the left field line in the eighth inning.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Epple had a monster series against the top earned-run average pitching staff in Division II. He went 8-for-17 at the plate with seven runs and two RBIs. He is currently on a seven-game hit streak entering this week. Warn also had a productive weekend against the Warriors, going 4-for-8 at the dish with two doubles, three walks, and two RBIs. Korson went 5-for-10 with four RBIs and nine total bases. DU held Wayne State to a .246 batting average and posted a 3.71 team ERA, in the best collection of games this season for the staff. DU struck out 34 Warriors and walked just 11.
Justin Johnson continues to lead the team with a .398 batting average and has started in all 30 games. He has driven in 31 runs and also scored 31 times. Johnson ranks fourth in the GLIAC in batting average, third in doubles (10), first in hit by pitch (12), second in hits (47), second in home runs (7), and sixth in slugging percentage (.661). Knorr has started to enter the top-10 in the GLIAC pitching categories with back-to-back solid starts against Roosevelt and Wayne State. He has thrown 11 innings and allowed five hits, two earned runs, and struck out eight in GLIAC play. He is eighth in WHIP (1.27) and fourth in strikeouts per nine innings (9.19).

Davenport concluded the month of March with an overall record of 11-8 and 6-2 in the GLIAC. The team batted .314 as a unit and averaged 8.68 runs per game. Dylan Pawenski batted .358 in 19 starts in March with 20 runs scored, four home runs, and 19 RBIs. Justin Johnson batted .356 with 20 RBIs and six home runs. Clay batted .347 with 20 runs scored and nine RBIs. Alberson was lockdown in the bullpen this month with a 1.08 ERA in four appearances covering 8.1 innings.

SERIES HISTORY
Davenport holds an 11-4 edge in the all-time series with Hillsdale College out of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. DU has won the last two meetings, including a 10-3 win on April 22 last season at home. Aidan Arbaugh threw two relief innings in that game and walked two with three strikeouts. Pawenski went 2-for-4 with a run, walk, and RBI. This will be the second meeting in Hillsdale, with DU winning the previous one 10-5 back on April 16, 2024.

The Panthers are currently leading the Saginaw Valley State series by a margin of 20-16. Davenport has won the last four meetings against the Cardinals, as they pulled off a four-game sweep at home last season, outscoring SVSU 38-15. The Panthers have a record of 9-7 on the road in University Center, but dropped three of four in the last trip back in 2024. In the last 10 matchups, each team has won five times.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Hillsdale is currently 11-14 overall and 7-5 in the G-MAC, which is third place in the North Division behind Ashland (8-4) and Findlay (11-1). The Chargers are fourth in team batting average (.294) in their league, and their 16 home runs rank in a tie for sixth. Hillsdale is a solid defensive team, ranking fourth in the conference with a .971 fielding percentage. They have a team ERA of 6.56 to place them sixth in the league, and have 172 strikeouts and 161 walks allowed. Gaard Swenson has proven to be the toughest to strikeout in the G-MAC once every 13.3 at-bats. He is hitting .349 with 37 hits in 106 at-bats to go with 21 RBIs, two doubles, two triples, and two home runs. Rocco Tenuta leads the team with 27 RBIs and five home runs.

Saginaw Valley State sits at 14-11 overall and 5-3 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals just wrapped up a four-game series at home against Parkside and split the games at 2-2. They won 6-5 in game one on Saturday and completed the doubleheader sweep 14-4 in game two. Ryan Jarvis drove in three runs in game one, and Buck Snabes homered as part of a 3-for-4 game at the plate. Steve Getts (1-1) needed to retire just one batter to earn the win. Jack Decker tossed 6.2 innings and allowed five earned runs with four walks and nine strikeouts. Jarvis stayed hot, going 4-for-4 in game two with a homer and three RBIs. Brady Carpenter went 4-for-5 with four doubles and three RBIs. Aaron Bess tripled in a 2-for-4 outing with a run and an RBI. Jacob Pitt homered and drove in a team-high four runs. Dan Wilcome got the win (1-2) in five relief innings and allowed no runs on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

SVSU has the third-best batting average (.295) and on-base percentage (.419) in the conference. They also lead the league with 79 stolen bases, and that total ranks 18th in Division II. The pitching staff leads the conference with 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings and is third in ERA (5.15). Snabes is batting .462 this season to rank second in the GLIAC and ninth in Division II. He has 42 hits and a .514 on-base percentage. Jarvis leads the team with 31 RBIs and is hitting .386 with eight doubles and two home runs. Jack Sequin has a 4-1 record on the mound in six starts with an ERA of 3.52 in 38.1 innings with 26 strikeouts. Nathan Masar is 3-1 on the hill in 31 innings with a 2.61 ERA and a team-leading 41 strikeouts.

SCHEDULE (Subject to change)
Wednesday, April 1 at Hillsdale - 4:00 PM - Live Stats - Live Video
Thursday, April 2 at Saginaw Valley State - 3:00 PM - Live Stats - Live Video
Friday, April 3 at Saginaw Valley State - 1:00 PM (DH) - Live Stats Game 1, Game 2 - Live Video
Saturday, April 4 at Saginaw Valley State - 12:00 PM - Live Stats - Live Video

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