GAME 1: Saginaw Valley State 11, Parkside 6
GAME 2: Saginaw Valley State 15, Parkside 7
 
GAME 1 RECAP
Parkside brought the bats in the early innings of game one, putting up one run in each of the first two innings, and then two in the third. In the first, junior Bryce Brogni singled, advanced to second on a grounder from redshirt-senior Casey Oliver, and then scored on a single from redshirt-senior Austin Emanuel. In the second, the Ranger run came on a solo homer from redshirt-senior Nicholas Eisenmenger, his first of the year. The Rangers doubled their 2-0 lead in the third thanks to a two-RBI single from senior Hunter Weddel that scored Emanuel and Esposito.
 
Junior Matt Helwig started on the bump for Parkside, and pitched three scoreless to start. Unfortunately, the Cardinals got to him in the fourth. The Rangers had a chance to get out of a bases loaded jam with two outs in the innings, but a three-RBI double and two-run home run flipped the game on its head. After the dust of the fourth inning settled, Saginaw Valley State led 6-4. The Cardinals added on insurance runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh. Down 11-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh, Parkside rallied and scored two runs on back-to-back RBI singles from Emanuel and senior Dominic Esposito, but that was as many as they would get.
 
GAME 2 RECAP
After scoring 11 unanswered runs in game one, Saginaw Valley State started game two with five unanswered off of Parkside starter Aaron Cusimano. The Rangers responded with three-hit, three-run bottom of the fifth to bring the game to 5-3. In that fifth, the Green & White got RBI singles from sophomore Reece Homan, Oliver, and Esposito. That 5-3 score held until the seventh when the Cardinals had a six-hit, eight-run top of the frame, and the Rangers had a four-run, four-hit bottom of the inning to make the score 13-7. Saginaw added two more in the top of the eighth, which ended up being the final runs of the contest.
 
Cusimano started game two for Parkside and went six innings. Junior Nicholas Schouten, junior Dusty Tomas, and redshirt-freshman Chris Conrad each went an inning in relief.
 
A LOOK AT THE BOX SCORE
Esposito stood out offensively for the Green & White, going 5-for-8 with four RBI's on the day. Emanuel finished the day 4-for-7, walked twice, and drove in two. Eisenmenger was the only Ranger to go deep.
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Next weekend the team will travel to Wayne State for a four-game series starting Friday, April 16 at 2:30 p.m. After that, the team will be back at Simmons Field to host Grand Valley State for a four-game series, with game one scheduled for Friday, April 23 at 3 p.m.