UTICA, Mich. —
Sam Clay came off the bench for a pinch-hit, walk-off, two-run homer in dramatic fashion for a 6-5 comeback victory over Saginaw Valley State in the opening game of the 2026 GLIAC Tournament at UWM Field. No. 3-seed Davenport secured the victory with three home runs in the eighth and ninth, overcoming the Cardinals 5-2 lead. This game marked Davenport's fourth straight walk-off win in the GLIAC Tournament, following three similar victories in 2025. Clay also hit a walk-off homer to secure the championship over Wayne State a year ago. His last two at-bats in the GLIAC Tournament have been walk-off home runs.
Davenport faced SVSU and emerged victorious in an instant classic. In the second inning, the Cardinals took an early lead after Buck Snabes doubled and scored, followed by Jacob Pitt reaching home on an error, making it 2–1 in favor of SVSU by the inning's end.
Wyatt Epple had a RBI single in the bottom of the second.
In the third, the Cardinals added another run with a sacrifice fly from Pitt, extending their lead to 3–1. However, Davenport responded in the fourth inning with
Carson Lindau's sacrifice fly, bringing
Ben Korson home and narrowing the gap to 3–2.
The Cardinals scored again in the fifth, courtesy of a groundout RBI by Pitt, increasing their lead to 4–2. In the sixth inning, a sacrifice fly by Aaron Bess extended SVSU's lead to 5–2.
Davenport made a significant push in the eighth inning, with
Justin Johnson (9th of the season) and
Dylan Pawenski (12th of the season) hitting back-to-back home runs, bringing the score to 5–4. The momentum continued in the ninth inning when Lindau singled to left on a 1-2 pitch, and
Sam Clay delivered his first home run of the season to center field on an 0-1 pitch, securing the win for Davenport.
Sean Knorr started on the mound for Davenport, pitching two innings with three hits allowed and two earned runs, while striking out one batter on 28 pitches.
Lucas Coll followed with three innings of relief, surrendering two runs on two hits, issuing four walks, and hitting a batter across 60 pitches.
Brandon Skorupski closed out the game with four innings, allowing only one earned run on three hits, striking out four, and securing the win (3–2) in a clutch relief appearance.
In their next game, Davenport will take the field against No. 5-seed Parkside at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 8, in Utica, Michigan.
