DETROIT -- Trailing Saginaw Valley State (21-9 overall, 10-3 GLIAC) by one game in the GLIAC standings, the Wayne State University baseball team (20-10 overall, 9-4 GLIAC) will be in University Center to face the Cardinals on Tuesday at 3 p.m. The Warriors went 2-3 in the two teams' first five meetings of the season, all of which were played at Harwell Field.
Wayne State and Saginaw Valley State first played in Detroit on Wednesday, March 27, a slugfest in which the Cardinals came out on top 13-10.
Fast forward nine days later and the two squads embarked on a four-game set this past week. SVSU was the better team in contests one and two with scores of 8-0 and 5-1, respectively.
Then, trailing 7-0 after four innings of Saturday's nightcap, WSU's bats came to life. They proceeded to score 14 runs in innings five through eight, won that game 14-9 and then carried that momentum into Sunday with 12-8 victory in the weekend finale.
GLIAC Player of the Week
Ray was named GLIAC Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday, as announced by the league.
Ray hit .583 (7-for-12) in three games against league-leading Saginaw Valley State last week with a .643 on-base percentage and 1.167 slugging percentage. All seven of those hits came in the final two games of the series.
In game two on Saturday and in the leadoff spot for the first time in his career, Ray finished with a personal-best four hits (4-for-5, 3 R, 1 3B, 1 HR, 1 BB, 5 RBI), a double shy of the cycle. Trailing 7-0 at one point, the Warriors were down 8-7 in the seventh before Ray hit the go-ahead three-run home run down the right-field line. Then on Sunday, hitting out of the top spot for WSU again, Ray went 3-for-4 in the Warriors' victory with two runs scored, a pair of doubles, one walk and a stolen base.
Those performances raised the backstop's season average to .383 (23-for-60), good for eighth in the conference. Ray also ranks fourth in the GLIAC in slugging (.617) and fifth in on-base percentage (.524).
Looking Ahead
Following Tuesday's showdown at Saginaw Valley State, Wayne State will have 17 regular-season games remaining. That includes four at Parkside (April 12-14), a non-conference tilt at Northwood (April 16), four vs. Grand Valley State (April 19-21), four at Davenport (April 26-28) and four against Purdue Northwest (May 3-5).
