Lourdes scored six times in the final two innings of game two on Saturday to earn a doubleheader split with Madonna at Illitch Ballpark in Livonia, Mich.  The Crusaders won the opener 11-7 before Lourdes battled back to take the nightcap 8-5.
 
"Game one got away from us in the last inning," head coach Josh Bradford said afterwards.  "We really didn't play well in the game.  We did some things that were a little uncharacteristic for our team.  In game two we pitched well.  We struck to the course and got some huge hits in the ninth and were able to take advantage of a couple of miscues on their side."
 
Lourdes jumped in front early in the opener, scoring three times in the top of the first.  Gabe Scott (Curtis, Ohio/Genoa H.S.) and Steve Haugh (Waterville, Ohio/Anthony Wayne H.S.) delivered back-to-back RBI doubles while Joey Oehlers (Lambertville, Mich./Bedford H.S.) added a sacrifice fly.
 
Caleb Dugan (Lima, Ohio/Lima Senior H.S.) added to the lead in the second with a two-run home run before the Crusaders found the scoreboard.
 
Madonna answered with two in the bottom of the second, but the Gray Wolves managed to take the 5-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth.  The Crusaders sent 12 batters to the plate and scored nine times to take the lead.  Lourdes responded with two runs in the seventh on a hit by Haugh and a ground out, but the rally came up short.
 
Dugan and Haugh each had two of the Gray Wolves' six hits in the opener.
 
Lourdes trailed 4-1 heading into the seventh of game two, with the lone run scoring on a passed ball in the fifth.  Haugh had a RBI single to pull the Gray Wolves within two, only to see Madonna answer with a single run in the bottom of the inning.
 
Trailing 5-2 into the eighth, Oehlers delivered a pinch-hit two-run single to pull the Gray Wolves within one.  Trailing by a run with two outs in the ninth, the Gray Wolves took advantage of an error that allowed the tying run to score.  Two hits and three walks followed as Lourdes went in front in the late innings.
 
Anderson Strunk (New Baltimore, Mich./Algonac H.S.), who came on in the sixth, closed out the ninth for his fourth inning of work to earn the win (2-1) in relief.  He allowed just one run and one hit out of the bullpen.
 
Matt McEachern (Burlington, Ont./Hayden Secondary H.S.) had the only multi-hit game for Lourdes in game two.
 
Lourdes (19-7, 4-2 WHAC) defeated Madonna for just the second time in 31 tries in program history.  The Gray Wolves stay on the road Sunday as they head to Ann Arbor, Mich. to face Concordia (Mich.).  First pitch in game one of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. at Cardinal Field.