Lourdes opened up Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play on Friday afternoon, dropping both ends of a doubleheader to 22^nd-ranked Davenport by the scores of 3-2 and 9-1 at Mercy Field.
 
A.J. Schraffenberger (Cincinnati, Ohio/Bishop Fenwick H.S.) went seven solid innings in the opener, allowing just two earned runs and eight hits, but suffered the loss (1-4).
 
"A.J. pitched a great game," head coach Jeremy Snow said afterwards.  "Scoring early was huge for us.  I thought we swung the bats well, but we couldn't find holes late.  Our bullpen came in, threw strikes, and gave us a chance."
 
Lourdes struck first with a run in the bottom of the second.  Nick Toth (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson H.S.) was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Dallas Riggs (Prescott, Ariz./Paradise Valley H.S.).  A single by Zak Laubscher (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg H.S.) put runners on the corners with one out when Alex Samson (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville H.S.) delivered a sacrifice fly for the game's first run.
 
Schraffenberger retired nine straight Panthers from the second through fourth innings, but Davenport loaded the bases with one out in the fifth.  A popout and groundout allowed Lourdes to escape unscathed.  The Panthers finally broke through in the sixth, taking advantage of two doubles and a single to plate a pair of runs, building a 2-1 lead.
 
After Davenport increased the lead to 3-1 in the eighth, Lourdes answered with a run in the bottom of the inning.  Garrett Jex (Bowling Green, Ohio/Bowling Green H.S.), who went 3-for-3 in the game, drew a walk and Glen Crabtree (Medina, Ohio/Black River H.S.) followed with a double to put runners at second and third.  George Pastor (Walled Lake, Mich./Central H.S.) drove home a run with a groundout, but the Gray Wolves were unable to tie the game.
 
Brandon White went 7.1 innings to earn the win (2-0), allowing two runs and six hits while striking out six.  Jonathan Cheshire came on with two runners aboard in the eighth, and earned his sixth save of the year.
 
Brandon Cable and Matt Priebe each had three hits to lead Davenport's 12-hit attack.
 
Davenport took advantage of Lourdes errors in building a 7-0 lead through two innings of game two.  The Gray Wolves committed six errors in total in game two, including two in the first and three more in the second.  Davenport plated a pair of first inning runs and added five more in the second.
 
Riggs accounted for Lourdes' only run of the contest, hitting a home run to deep leftfield in the bottom of the second, the first round-tripper of the year for the Gray Wolves.
 
The Panthers added two more runs, one of which was unearned, in the fourth to close out the scoring.
 
Corbin Clouse went the distance for the win (1-0) on the mound for Davenport, allowing one run and three hits while striking out 10 over the seven innings.  Paul Avila (Nogales, Ariz./Canyon Del Oro H.S.) suffered the loss (1-3), despite allowing just three earned runs among 10 hits.
 
"Defensive miscues spotted them a big lead early, and you can't do that against a good team," Snow said.  "Give their pitcher credit as well.  He did a nice job of keeping us off balance."
 
Lourdes (4-14, 0-2 WHAC) and Davenport (16-7, 4-0) will close out their four-game weekend series on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field with another doubleheader.  First pitch in game one is set for 1 p.m.