TOLEDO, Ohio – The Lourdes baseball team (9-11, 3-3 in WHAC) defeated the Michigan-Dearborn Wolverines (4-12, 1-5 in WHAC) twice on Saturday afternoon at home at Mercy Health Field.

The Gray Wolves won the first game via a 3-0 shutout and then won the second game with a 16-3 blowout. Lourdes skyrockets up five spots in the conference standings to fifth place. Meanwhile, the Wolverines drop to last place in the league.

Game 1
The first game was all about Lourdes' senior ace pitcher Brenden Holland. The Riga, Michigan native improved his season record to 3-1 after throwing an 86-pitch complete game shutout.

Holland threw all seven innings, giving up no runs on just three hits. He only walked one batter and struck out a season-high nine Wolverines hitters. Holland had a no-hitter going until the top of the fifth inning when he gave up a leadoff double to the Wolverines' power hitter Connor Swiney.

The Swiney double was followed by a Matt Cheetam single to put runners on the corners. Cheetam then stole second base as Holland struck out the next batter, putting two runners in scoring position with only one out.

Holland stayed poised and got out of the jam with a fly out and ground out to end the inning. Holland was asked postgame about his calmness in the fifth to preserve the shutout.

"I really wasn't paying attention to the runners on base and was just focused on the guy at home plate," Holland said. "It honestly made me mad when they got those hits, so I kind of just channeled that anger into my pitching and directed it towards the next guy that was hitting."

Holland got six of the next eight batters out to end the game with a zero in the away team's score column.

For Lourdes' offense, the Gray Wolves had a solid seven hit performance that gave just enough run support to get the job done. Lourdes scored all three runs in the fourth inning with two outs. First, senior shortstop A.J Brinson hit a double into deep leftfield to score two runners. Freshman leftfielder Jay Breed then singled up the middle to score Brinson and give Lourdes their third and final run of the contest.

Game 2
The second game also featured a phenomenal starting pitching performance by the Gray Wolves, this time by freshman J.J Foti. The local St. John's Jesuit graduate threw five innings with two earned runs, three hits allowed, three walks and three strikeouts.

Foti had a no-hitter going through 3 1/3 innings before finally giving up a single in the top of the fourth to Gavin Hollon. Foti's first run was given up on a throwing error made my himself and his second run was given up on a solo home run in the fifth inning to Gavin Hampton.

Mari Hegenberger-Ellars homered in the sixth inning for the Wolverines off of relief pitcher Logan Moss to give UMD their third and final run of the game. However, it was no match to the consistent offensive onslaught that Lourdes brought throughout the game.

The Gray Wolves started off the game with a six run first inning. Will Brose knocked in the first two runs on a ground ball that just got by the first baseman. Drake Sekinger then cleared the bases on a gap shot double to make it 5-0 Lourdes.  

Getting the start at second base for the injured Jace Bloomer was Jaxon Sanchez, who delivered in his first at bat with an RBI single to make it 6-0 Gray Wolves.

The third inning is when the game got completely broken open as Lourdes dropped eight more runs on the Wolverines' pitching staff. Sanchez started off the inning notching another RBI off a sacrifice fly to make it 7-1. The sac-fly was the second out of the inning. This didn't stop Lourdes as the remaining seven runs were all scored with two outs.

Alex Dupree hit a rocket opposite field double to knock in two more RBI's. Andrew Arnston followed that up with a double of his own, knocking in two more RBI's and taking an 11-1 lead. Will Brose then hit an RBI single, and A.J Brinson squeaked a ground ball through the second baseman's' legs to make it 14-1 Lourdes.  

Ty Zapadka contributed Lourdes' 15^th and 16^th runs of the game in the bottom of the sixth as part of a four-error inning by the Wolverines.

Stats
Overall eight different Lourdes players got a hit in the second game victory, including A.J Brinson, Will Brose, and Alex Dupree, who all had two hits. Dupree, Zapadka, Brinson, and Sanchez each had two RBI's in the second game. Sekinger and Brose each had three RBI's in the second game.

Overall, A.J Brinson led the team with four total RBI's in the doubleheader. Drake Sekinger led the team with a four-for-four afternoon at the plate; his averaged jumped up nearly 30 points to .262. Additionally, Will Brose now has a team-leading .435 average in 12 games played.

Coach Bradford's Postgame Comments
"Brenden Holland did some outstanding pitching," Coach Bradford said. "He pitched his tail off to get a complete game shutout in under 90 pitches. Our offense came along in game two. We started stringing together some good at bats to score some runs and have some big innings."

Next Up
Lourdes takes on Madonna tomorrow at 1pm for another home doubleheader with an opportunity to move high up in the conference standings.