UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – Roosevelt made an entrance in its first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest Friday afternoon at Saginaw Valley State.

The Lakers and Cardinals combined for a GLIAC-record 36 runs and 37 hits, and it was Roosevelt that emerged with the 20-16 win to start the four-game series between the two teams. Roosevelt (6-13, 1-0 GLIAC) had just 15 of the hits, but made just one error in the field compared to four for the Cardinals to snap a seven-game losing skid.

Most of the runs across the nine-inning affair came in bursts with five half innings of at least five runs compared to seven shutout half innings. The game started as a typical contest with Saginaw Valley State scoring once in the bottom of the first, and Roosevelt responding with an Andrew Lucas RBI single in the second. The Cardinals tacked on another run in the bottom of the second before the floodgates opened for the first time.

Roosevelt scored five runs in the top of the third inning, all of which came after the first two batters of the inning recorded outs. Jack Kieffer began the two-out rally with a single up the middle and Sebastian Casillas followed suit with a single up the middle. Fabian Cruz scored Kieffer with a base hit to left field then Dimitri Spatharakis was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

In what would become a theme on the day, Kyle Jannenga stepped to the plate and launched a double to give Roosevelt its first lead by plating two runs. An error let a fourth run cross the plate then Luke Ulbert delivered a run-scoring single to end the scoring in the frame.

Saginaw Valley State put up seven runs in the bottom of the inning to re-take the lead, but the Lakers struck yet again in the fourth. This time, the Lakers loaded the bases with the first three batters of the frame and Spatharakis drew a one-out walk to drive in a run. Jannenga made no mistake on his second opportunity with the bases loaded, uncorking a grand slam over the left-field wall to give Roosevelt an 11-9 lead.

Casillas added an RBI single in the fifth and Spatharakis drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to push Roosevelt's lead to 13-10. A quiet fifth for the Cardinals was countered by a quiet sixth for the Lakers, then Saginaw Valley State re-took the lead with five runs in the bottom of the frame. Yet the Roosevelt bats had one more big inning in them, and that was the top of the seventh.

Cruz walked and Spatharakis was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and both runners moved up courtesy of a wild pitch. Janennga roped a line drive into right field to make it 15-14 and a wild pitch two batters later tied the game. Kekoa Ogawa drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk then Kieffer delivered a two-run single before an error allowed Cruz to reach base and two runs to score.

AJ Gliwa pitched the seventh and allowed a run before striking out three straight batters to preserve the four-run lead. Gliwa found himself in some trouble in the eighth inning, but Kevin Schroer came in and struck out the final batter of the frame to send the game to the ninth. Schroer struck out three more hitters in the ninth around two doubles to earn his second save of the season.

Janennga had a breakout offensive game with seven RBIs while going 3 for 6 at the plate with three runs scored. Casillas went 3 for 5 at the plate with two runs scored and an RBI while drawing a pair of walks. Kieffer went 3 for 4, drew two walks, scored four runs and drove in two. Spatharakis was technically 0 for 3, but scored four runs and drove in a pair by walking once and getting hit by a pitch twice.

UP NEXT: Roosevelt continues its series with Saginaw Valley State on Saturday with a revised schedule for the weekend. The Lakers and Cardinals will now play a single game Saturday at 1 p.m. before facing off in a doubleheader on Sunday starting at 11 a.m.