Lourdes posted just its third win ever against a NAIA top-25 foe on Wednesday evening, as the Gray Wolves upset 16^th-ranked Bryan 8-1 at Senter Field in Dayton, Tenn.
 
The win against the Lions snapped a 17-game losing skid against ranked foes.  Lourdes last downed a nationally-ranked opponent was on April 1, 2015, a 6-3 win at 23^rd-ranked Northwestern Ohio.  The win also marks the highest ranked foe the Gray Wolves have downed in program history.
 
"We played a complete game tonight," head coach Josh Bradford said afterwards.  "All three of our pitchers were awesome and we got some big clutch hits."
 
The game was scoreless until the fourth when Bryce Gargus (South Haven, Mich./South Haven H.S.) delivered a bases clearing double with two outs to put the Gray Wolves in front 3-0.
 
Braxton McKart (Monroe, Mich./Monroe H.S.) was solid on the mound, working six innings while allowing just one run on five hits and striking out nine to earn his third win (3-1) of the year.  The lone run was a one-out homer by the Lions in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Lourdes extended its 3-1 lead in the seventh.  A bases loaded single by Reilly Walters (Bowmanville, Ont./Bowmanville H.S.) plated one run and Jay Denman (Toledo, Ohio/Saint Francis de Sales H.S.) added two more with a single.  Josh Hare (Simcoe, Ont./Holy Trinity H.S.) followed with a RBI single to make it 7-1.
 
The Gray Wolves added one final run, an unearned tally, in the eighth as Walters was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
 
Lourdes finished the game with 10 hits, including three by Gargus and two more by Walters and Glen Crabtree (Medina, Ohio/Black River H.S.).
 
Travis Thompson (South Euclid, Ohio/Brush H.S.) tossed a pair of scoreless innings of relief, fanning two, while Kyle Sacher (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton H.S.) pitched a perfect ninth.  Lourdes hurlers struck out 12 Lions while walking just three and scattering five hits.
 
Tristan Allison took the loss (0-2) for Bryan (14-6), allowing three runs and four hits in five innings of work.  He struck out six.  Lion pitchers walked 10 in the game.
 
Lourdes (7-6) will close out its spring trip on Thursday morning, as the Gray Wolves travel to Athens, Tenn. to battle fifth-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan.  First pitch has been moved up to 11 a.m. at Jack Bowling Field.