UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – Purdue Northwest's comeback bid came up short against Saginaw Valley State in a 6-4 setback on Saturday afternoon.
PNW dropped to 9-21 overall following the loss at SVSU Complex Baseball Field, despite outhitting Saginaw Valley 11-9 in the contest. The Cardinals improved to 15-10 on the season.
Brett Veltema led the Pride bats with a 3-for-5 effort at the plate which included his fifth double on the year.
Tyler Schultz (2-for-4) knocked in a career-high three runs while
Luke Montgomery (2-for-5) and
Hunter Thorn (2-for-5) each collected a pair of base knocks.
Starter
Joe Sullivan gave the Pride seven innings of work in his fourth start on the mound. He surrendered four earned runs on nine hits and five walks while recording a pair of strikeouts. Sullivan was saddled with the loss and dropped to 2-2 on the season.
Saginaw Valley got on the board first with an RBI single in the opening frame. But, PNW responded when a Schultz ground out plated Veltema in the second inning.
The Pride grabbed a 2-1 lead after manufacturing a run in the fifth. Back-to-back singles by Schultz and
Jake Soules were followed by a sac bunt from
Andrew Petsche. Then,
Ethan Imlach brought a run across on an RBI ground out to shortstop, but the Cardinals would respond with two runs in the home half of the fifth.
Saginaw Valley would tack on three more runs on three RBI singles later in the contest to take a 6-2 lead.
PNW rallied to load the bases with no outs in the eighth. Thorn led off with a single to right field and Veltema followed with a knock to center. After
Ray Hansen drew a walk, Schultz delivered a clutch single to right field which scored two runs and sliced the Cardinals' lead to two, 6-4. Unfortunately, the Pride would strand the bases loaded and were unable to finish the comeback.
Saginaw Valley's Hayden Jatczak earned the win and he improved to 4-2 on the hill. He struck out five across seven innings with four earned runs.
NEXT UP
PNW will take on Saginaw Valley in a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon. Game 1 is scheduled for a 12:35 EDT first pitch.
