Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
Lourdes picked up a pair of key Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference victories on Saturday afternoon, downing Concordia (Mich.) 7-1 and 5-4 on the road at Cardinal Field in Ann Arbor, Mich.
 
“We did a good job of putting balls in play and forcing their defense to make plays in both games today,” head coach Andy Ham said after the wins.
 
Frank Shaffer (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg H.S.) pitched eight solid innings for the victory (2-4) in the opener, allowing just one run on five hits.  He walked just two and struck out two.
 
“Frank was really good,” Ham added.  “He threw lots of strikes and we played solid defense behind him.”
 
The Gray Wolves staked Shaffer to a lead in the second inning, taking advantage of two Cardinal errors, with Josh Redies (Saline, Mich./Saline H.S.) scoring the game's first run.
 
A four-run fifth inning broke the game open for Lourdes.  John Crooks (Toledo, Ohio/Ottawa Hills H.S.) delivered a RBI double that plated Marty Ramirez (Toledo, Ohio/Start H.S.) and Phil Dysard (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic H.S.) followed with a run-scoring single of his own to score Tim DeCant (Northwood, Ohio/Lake H.S.).  A throwing error with two outs then scored Dysard and Crooks to increase the lead to 5-0.
 
Concordia scored its lone run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly, but the Gray Wolves matched the tally with one of their own in the eighth.  Ramirez delivered a run-scoring single, scoring Mike Calloway (Detroit, Mich./Cass Tech H.S.).  Ramirez added a sacrifice fly in the ninth to close out the scoring.
 
Crooks and Redies paced Lourdes' 11-hit attack with three hits each in the opener while Ramirez added two hits and two runs batted in.
 
Tyler Holloway suffered the loss (0-4) for Concordia, allowing five runs, only two of which were earned, on six hits in seven innings of work.
 
In game two Lourdes had to rally from a 4-2 deficit heading into the seventh of the seven-inning contest, scoring three times in the final frame to earn the win.
 
The Gray Wolves jumped on top first though, scoring a pair of runs in the opening inning.  Crooks scored on a throwing error following a Dysard groundout and Cole Fitzgerald (Rome, N.Y./Centerville [Ohio] H.S.) added a RBI single later in the inning which plated Redies. 
 
Concordia cut the Lourdes lead in half with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first and tied the game with a RBI double in the third.  A run-scoring triple in the fourth put the Cardinals on top and a bunt single in the sixth increased the lead to 4-2.
 
Lourdes battled back in the top of the seventh though.  Calloway led off the inning reaching on an error and stole second.  Crooks tripled to the gap in left-center to score Calloway, and scored himself one batter later on a Dysard sacrifice fly which tied the game.  With two outs, Fitzgerald reached on an infield single and scored on a DeCant double to put the Gray Wolves on top.
 
Nathan Hammer (Fostoria, Ohio/Saint Wendelin H.S.) picked up the win (1-1), coming on in relief of Lee Lovejoy (Ravenna, Ohio/Ravenna H.S.) in the sixth inning.  He tossed 1.2 scoreless innings.  Scott Morse suffered the loss (1-2) out of the bullpen for the Cardinals.
 
“Lee did a good job of keeping us in the game and the top of the order came through for us in the seventh to push those seven runs across,” Ham concluded.  “Getting the sweep was big for us.”
 
Fitzgerald had three hits for the Gray Wolves in the nightcap while Crooks, Redies, and DeCant had two each to account for all nine of Lourdes hits in the game. 
 
Lourdes (14-19, 5-10 WHAC) and Concordia (4-26, 3-16) will wrap up the four-game weekend series on Sunday afternoon with another doubleheader at Cardinal Field.  First pitch of the twinbill is slated for 1 p.m.