Photo Gallery

Lourdes had the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth on Friday afternoon in its home opener, but was unable to push the tying run across the plate, falling to Bluffton 3-2 at Mercy Field.
 
A.J. Schraffenberger (Cincinnati, Ohio/Bishop Fenwick H.S.) tossed five scoreless innings in his Gray Wolf debut, striking out seven while walking two.  He allowed just four hits, but ended up with a no decision.
 
"Our pitching was good today," head coach Andy Ham said after the game.  "A.J. threw great.  He worked quickly, threw strikes, and kept them off balance."
 
Lourdes took the lead in the bottom of the second as Bill Laranga (Maumee, Ohio/Maumee H.S.) doubled off the left field wall to score Garrett Jex (Bowling Green, Ohio/Bowling Green H.S.) with the game's first run.  The Gray Wolves would maintain the lead until the sixth.
 
Bluffton plated two runs off of Joey Hawkins (New Richmond, Ohio/New Richmond H.S.), who would suffer the loss (0-1).  Reid Maus tied the game with a RBI single and Luke Hickey put the Beavers in front with a two-out infield hit.
 
The Beavers would add what proved to be an insurance run in the eight on Mike Castro's single as Bluffton took advantage of a Lourdes error to score an unearned tally.
 
The Gray Wolves rallied in the ninth, scoring one run and leaving the bases loaded.  Jex singled through the left side to score Andy Kefalos (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton H.S.) as Lourdes took advantage of an error by the Beaver defense.  Kevin Every came on to get the final two outs for Bluffton to earn his first save of the year though.
 
Lourdes only managed four hits in the game, including just two against starter Nate Simonds who earned the win (2-1).  Simonds walked four and struck out four in six innings of work.
 
"We need to work together better on offense," Ham added.  "We're not a power team and we need to realize that.  Because of that, we need to string hits together to score runs."
 
Lourdes (0-5) will begin a four-game weekend series on Saturday afternoon as the Gray Wolves host Cleary.  First pitch in game one of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. at Mercy Field.