The Parkside baseball team earned a split on the road Saturday against Saginaw Valley State, as the Rangers won an 11-8 slugfest in game one followed by a 7-1 loss in game two. The Rangers will have to win on Sunday to earn the series split with the Cardinals.
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GAME ONE: Parkside 11, Saginaw Valley State 8
The Rangers' offense got hot late, scoring all 11 runs in the final three innings. SVSU took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the third, but Parkside used a huge seven-run fifth inning to grab the lead.
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In the seventh, Parkside saw two three-run home runs, the first from
Shawn Rigsby and the second from
Paul Weise. They also got an RBI fielder's choice from
Hunter Weddel in the inning. SVSU tied it up at 7-7 in the bottom of the fifth, but a two-run homer by
Justin Bennett in the sixth inning put the Rangers on top 9-7. After another SVSU run, Parkside used a
Casey Oliver RBI single and a Bennett RBI single to push the lead to 11-8.
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Four players had multiple hits for the Rangers, with Bennett finishing 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI,
Ricky West going 2-for-3 with a double and two runs, Oliver going 2-for-4 with two runs and
Dominic Esposito finishing 2-for-4. The Rangers had 12 hits as a team.
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Peyton Schneider earned the win, going 5.0 innings allowing just one earned run.
Aaron Cusimano pitched the final 2.0 innings and earned his fifth save of the season.
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GAME TWO: Saginaw Valley State 7, Parkside 1
The difference maker in game two was a six-run third inning for the Cardinals, but SVSU also got a solid outing from their starting pitcher.
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The Rangers took the early 1-0 lead in the second inning, scoring a run on a Cardinals error, one of three on the day for the Cardinals' defense. SVSU used the big third inning to pull out to the 6-1 advantage and held Parkside scoreless the rest of the way.
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The Green & White finished with five hits, as Esposito had his second straight two-hit game and Weise/West each went 1-for-3.
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WHAT'S NEXT
Parkside and SVSU will finish out the series on Sunday, April 28 at noon. The Rangers final GLIAC series will take place next weekend as Davenport visits Historic Simmons Field.
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