CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - The Wayne State University baseball team (31-17 overall) opened the 2012 GLIAC Tournament with a 4-2 victory over Saginaw Valley State University (24-25) at V.A. Memorial Stadium on Wednesday morning.

Josh Wedesky (Fowlerville, Mich.) and Carson Beauchaine were locked in a pitcher's duel as they allowed only a combined 10 hits in a game which lasted only one hour and 45 minutes and ended with Billy Hurley breaking the school records for saves in a season (11) and career (19).

Wedesky, who retired 14 straight batters through the middle innings, gave up four walks and four hits as he improved to 6-3 on the season.  He matched his season-high with six strikeouts over his 7.2 innings of work.

Walks to Brandon Schwanz and Chet LaFave, followed by an RBI single by Andy Orr, produced the first run by SVSU in the top of the first inning.  Wedesky settled in soon after and, after hitting Cam Wiechmann with a pitch in the third, did not allow another baserunner until the eighth.

Beauchaine (3-5), meanwhile, was working on a one-hitter until the fifth when Kyle Vesey (Brighton, Mich.), Alex Trojan (Fenton, Mich./Hartland) and Kasey Koster (Portage, Mich./Central) all singled to load the bases with no outs.  A grounder by Chris Gebara (Troy, Mich.) and a sacrifice fly by Kenny Davis (Wyoming, Mich./Lee) gave the Warriors the lead.

A two-run blast to right center by Gebara, his first career home run, made it a 4-1 game in the seventh.

Saginaw Valley State scored once and loaded the bases in the eighth, but Ethan Vasiliauskas (South Rockwood, Mich./Carleton Airport) struck out Orr to preserve the 4-2 advantage.

Hurley retired the Cardinals in order in the ninth to break Jon Venuto's school records for saves in a single season and career, which Venuto set in 2000 and 2002, respectively.

Wayne State will face the winner of Wednesday's Lake Erie-Tiffin matchup at 5:30 on Thursday.  Live streaming audio of Thursday's game will be available free of charge on Warrior All-Access.


NOTES
The Warriors have won four straight postseason meetings against the Cardinals … Wedesky has 18 career victories, putting him in a four-way tie for sixth place all-time at WSU … Vesey is 18-for-37 (.486) with 10 RBI and 15 runs scored during his current 11-game hitting streak … Hurley's save was the first of his career in the postseason.