Lourdes wrapped up its 10-game homestand at Mercy Field on Friday, dropping both games of a doubleheader to Madonna 12-1 and 8-6.
The Crusaders wasted little time jumping in front in the opener, plating five runs in the top of the first before adding three more in the second. Madonna added a single run in the third and two more in the fifth before Lourdes reached the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the sixth,
Nick DiGennaro (Oakville, Ont./St. Ignatius of Loyola H.S.) walked to lead off the inning and eventually scored on a RBI single by
Jase Kennedy (Oregon, Ohio/Clay H.S.), one of two hits he had in the game.
Madonna added one final run in the seventh to close out the win.
After both teams went down in order in each of the first three innings of game two, Madonna (10-15, 5-4 WHAC) took the lead with three runs in the fourth. After the Crusaders plated two more in the fifth and one in the sixth, Lourdes began to rally.
A DiGennero double plated
Alex Dupree (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview H.S.) in the bottom of the sixth and
Joel Suraganan (Pickerington, Ont./Dunbarton H.S.) scored on a wild pitch.
Caleb Edwards-Dugan (Lima, Ohio/Lima Senior H.S.) added a sacrifice fly to score DiGennero and the Gray Wolves were within three.
The Crusaders scored single runs in the eighth and ninth which proved to be important insurance tallies as Lourdes scored three in the ninth but could not complete the comeback bid. After leaving the bases loaded in the eighth, the Gray Wolves loaded the bases again in the ninth to start the frame. A wild pitch and a balk scored two runs before DiGennaro had a RBI single to make it an 8-6 game. Lourdes again loaded the bases after two more hit batters, this time with two outs, but could not score the tying runs.
Lourdes had 11 hits in game two with each of the top four hitters in the order,
A.J. Brinson (Bloomington, Ind./South H.S.), Dupree, Suraganan, and DiGennaro each tallying two hits.
Lourdes (6-16, 5-5) will take to the road on Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader against Cleary. The first pitch in game one is set for 1 p.m. at Lake Trust Stadium.