DETROIT -- The Wayne State University baseball team (21-22 overall, 9-8 GLIAC) sealed a 9-8 victory over No. 21 Davenport (31-12 overall, 16-2 GLIAC) on Saturday for Friday's suspended contest before falling by a score of 9-0 in game two of the series.  WSU and DU will play a doubleheader on Sunday with the first pitch in round one slated for 12 p.m.

GAME ONE
Friday/Saturday's series opener was an instant classic that saw a combined three ties, five lead changes, 17 runs scored, and 30 hits.

Davenport struck first with a run in the top of the second inning before Wayne State countered with a four spot in the home half.  Owen Tuccinardi (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Skyline) scored Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.) with a groundout to the shortstop, Aidan Arbogast (Livonia, Mich. / Livonia Stevenson [Mid-Michigan C.C. / Kellogg C.C. / Eastern Michigan]) singled in Drew Hill (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) and Mason McGuire (Lyon Twp., Mich. / Brighton [Mott CC]) singled in Arbogast.

The Panthers responded with three scores in the third and another in the fourth to take the advantage back, 5-4.

In the bottom of the fourth with Jacoby Dale (Roseville, Mich. [Spring Arbor/Henry Ford CC]) standing on second and McGuire on first, Caleb Sanders (Eastpointe, Mich. / Detroit Edison Public School Academy [Dayton]) tripled to center.  That three-bagger scored both base runners and put the Warriors back ahead by one, 6-5.

DU notched its sixth score in the fifth before another pair in the eighth to lead again, this time by two, 8-6.

In Wayne State's half of the eighth, Ty Garza (Grosse Ile, Mich. [Barton College] drew a one-out walk before Dale singled to left center to put runners on first and second for McGuire.  McGuire then blasted a three-run home run over the green monster in left center, his third bomb of the season, that gave his squad the lead, 9-8.  That round-tripper gave the senior four hits on the game, his second four-hit performance as a Warrior and first of 2025.

The game was halted right there before being finished first thing Saturday afternoon.

Starter Keegan Pulford-Thorpe (Aurora, Ont. / Newmarket [Central Florida / Georgia Highlands College]) lasted two and two-thirds innings in his first home start in the Green and Gold.  Pulford-Thorpe gave up four earned runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

First out of the bullpen, Will DeMasse (Macomb, Mich. / Dakota) threw three frames in his first relief appearance since March 10.  DeMasse allowed two earned runs on eight hits with one free pass.  Next, Miles Jamieson (Grosse Pointe, Mich. / Grosse Pointe South [Mid Michigan / Davidson]) surrendered just as many earned runs in two innings of work.  Jamieson did so on three hits with three walks and three punchouts.

Ethan Getting (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Northern [Purdue Northwest]) improved to 3-2 with the victory after the final four outs on the back end, the first of which happened on Friday.  Davenport was unable to score on Getting who had just one hit next to his name with no walks and a pair of strikeouts.

GAME TWO
Davenport's Keegan Batka (8-1), likely GLIAC Pitcher of the Year, didn't give up a hit until the second batter he faced in the eighth inning.  Batka went the distance on 109 pitches with that one base knock allowed, two free passes and nine punchouts.

On the other side, Wayne State's Braylon Laroo (Canton, Mich. / Detroit Catholic Central) allowed six earned runs on eight hits in four frames with two walks.  Laroo suffered the loss to fall to 3-2 for his freshman campaign.

Carson Tehan (LaSalle, Ont. / Sandwich S.S.) and Phoenix Guzzi (Rockwood, Mich. / Carlson [Earlham College]), who was added this week and made his WSU debut, teamed up for the final five innings.