Baseball Wins Madonna Twinbill to Stay Unbeaten in WHAC

LIVONIA, MI - UNOH baseball kept their winning streak alive and stayed unbeaten in conference play with a pair of victories at Madonna on Sunday. The Racers cruised through game one, 9-1, but had to come from behind in game two to take down the Crusaders, 9-8.

UNOH was resilient in the first game of the day scoring seven of their nine runs with two outs. A three-run first got things started with as the Racers strung together a single and three straight doubles with two outs. A two-out homer by Drake Miller added two more in third before the next two innings went scoreless. Up 5-1 in the sixth, UNOH used an error and a sac fly to plate another pair finishing the day with a two-out, two-RBI single in the final frame for a 9-1 win.

Madonna went up early in game two scoring two and three in their first two at bats for a 5-1 lead after two. A two-out single and a wild pitch helped the Racers cut the lead back to two in the third, but both offenses dried up sending the game into the seventh still 5-3 in favor of the Crusaders. A two-out double put UNOH in position to score in the top of the inning but they couldn't get a run accross as Madonna was helped by a couple wild pitches in the bottom to add one to their total.

Drake Miller led in game one with a season best 3-4 hitting and two RBI. Noah Matheson each finished 2-4 with one RBI and Tyler Huff pinch hit a double for two RBI on 1-1 batting.

Sinjon Bobolia got his third start of the season but was forced out in the third finishing with one run on four hits with two walks and a strikeout over two and two-thirds innings. Jeremy Yurcak (2-1) entered in relief and pitched two and a third innings to earn the decision allowing just one hit with one strikeout and one walk. Josh Mauney finished the final two frames without a hit striking out two and walking one.

With just five total hits in the game, the Racers needed some offense late in game two and they finally found what they were looking for logging six hits and six runs over the final two frames. Two doubles and two singles did the job for three in the eighth followed by three more in the ninth off a walk, a hit batter and two singles for a 9-6 lead with three outs remaining. The Crusaders managed to score twice in the home ninth and sat with bases loaded and two outs, but UNOH closer Eliott Traver fanned the final batter of the day to give the Racers a 9-8 win and a 6-0 start in WHAC play.

Devon Tukes led game two with a season best 3-4 at the dish with two RBI and a walk. Jacob Watson finished 2-4 and Josh Ledgard went 2-5 with both driving in two runs in the game. Noah Matheson was walked twice but managed to rip a double to extend his team-leading hitting streak to twelve games logging multiple hits in seven of those twelve.

Six different Racers stepped on the mound in game two combining for twelve strikeouts and the team's eighth double-digit strikeout performance of the season. Noah Curi struggled off the start allowing five runs, three earned, over an inning and a third. Josh Mauney made his second appearance of the day finishing off the final two outs in the second allowing one hit. Nick Soller logged the best relief work of the game tossing three and two-thirds innings with three hits, five strikeouts and two walks. Jordan Davis threw one full inning allowing run run on one hit with a walk and a strikeout. Nate Tappenden completed the final out of the seventh with a strikeout before Eliott Traver (1-1) took over in the eighth. Traver allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits over his two frames striking out four and walking two to earn the win.

UNOH returns home for six straight beginning with a rescheduled doubleheader against Lourdes on Tuesday, March 25 followed by Defiance on Saturday and Rochester Christian on Sunday.