Parkside baseball dropped the opener of its four-game series at Saginaw Valley State by a score of 14-5 on Friday afternoon as the Cardinals had a big day offensively.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cardinals jumped out to a big lead in the bottom of the first, taking a 5-0 advantage and holding the Rangers scoreless until the fourth inning where Hunter Weddel's sacrifice fly make it 5-1.
 
Parkside battled back to make it a one-run game in the top of the fifth inning as Justin Bennett hit a two-run double that scored Kurt Mlachnik and Niko Diaz, followed by a Cardinals' error that allowed a run to score and made it 5-4 SVSU.
 
SVSU added three runs in the fifth, one in each the sixth and seventh before a four-run eighth inning. Parkside's final run came in on Shawn Rigsby's RBI single.
 
A LOOK AT THE STATS
The Rangers finished with 10 hits as Diaz went 2-for-2, Mlachnik went 1-for-4 with a pair of runs and Bennett/Ryan Hollander each had a double. Jarrett Rossiano suffered the loss after going 4.2 innings.
 
THE REST OF THE SERIES
These two teams will square off once again on Saturday in a doubleheader starting at 11:30 followed by the series finale on Sunday at noon.