TIFFIN, Ohio - Senior Jordan Chiero and junior Kyle Robinson had five hits each as the Tiffin University baseball team (25-24, 20-16 GLIAC) swept Saginaw Valley State (24-24, 20-16 GLIAC) 5-4 and 9-3, Sunday afternoon at Heminger Field. The sweep puts the Dragons into the GLIAC tournament for the first time in school history.
In game one, Tiffin struck at will in the first inning. Robinson and senior Val Helldobler led off with singles. An error on a sacrifice bunt by junior Ryan Locke loaded the bases with no outs. Chiero singled to left center field to advance the runners one base each, scoring Robinson.
A fielder's choice by junior Ryan Williams got an out but kept the bases loaded. Junior KC Weber singled to drive in Locke and Chiero. Williams was thrown out at third with Weber moving to second. Freshman Derek Koch singled with Weber moving to third. Koch stole second with Weber crossing the plate.
Saginaw Valley scored a run in the third and fourth to make it 4-2. The Dragons picked up a run in the fifth. In the top of the sixth the Cardinals made it interesting by scoring twice. In the seventh, Chet LaFave singled and moved to third on consecutive ground outs. TU got a ground out to end the game.
For Tiffin, Robinson had three hits and Helldobler had two hits. Senior Pat Curtin (5-1) gave up 11 hits, four runs, walked three and struck out five in 5.3 innings. Greg Sombati (3) gave up one hit in one inning of work.
For Saginaw Valley, LaFave had three hits while Matt Hunt and Brandon Schwanz had two hits each. Andrew Doyle (2-2) gave up five hits, four runs, two of them earned and struck out one in one inning of work.
In the night cap, the first inning produced eight hits, seven runs and took 29 minutes to play. SVSU used three hits to score three runs. In the bottom half, Robinson reached on an error and moved to second on a bunt single by Helldobler
Junior Tayler Glass sliced a double down the right field line to score Robinson and move Helldobler to third. Chiero ripped a single up the middle, scoring Helldobler and moving Glass to third. Williams singled up the middle to score Glass and push Chiero to second.
A double play moved Chiero to third and got two outs for Saginaw Valley. Koch dropped a single into right field to score Chiero. The Dragons would tack on five more runs to seal the deal.
For Tiffin, Chiero had a perfect day with four hits in four at-bats, scored two runs and drove in two runs. Koch had two hits and drove in two runs while Glass, Helldobler and Robinson had two hits each. Chris Pistorio (4-3) gave up seven hits, three runs, walked two and struck out three in five innings.
For Saginaw Valley, LaFave had two hits. Colin Coulter (4-2) gave up seven hits, six runs, only two earned and struck out one in 2.7 innings.
-TIFFIN UNIVERSITY-
