TOLEDO, Ohio - The Lourdes baseball team (13-24, 7-13 in WHAC) lost to the Defiance Yellow Jackets (14-25, 7-11 in WHAC) by a score of 27-23 in game two of their Sunday afternoon doubleheader at home at Mercy Health Field.

Lourdes was looking good going into game two after taking the game one victory by 16 runs. However, multiple Lourdes relievers struggled to get the Yellow Jackets out in the later stages of game two, leading to the heartbreaking loss.

The Gray Wolves are now in 9th place in the conference standings and the Yellow Jackets are two games ahead in 8th. The top eight teams make the conference tournament, so Lourdes is right on the brink of making the postseason. 

Lourdes started the game strong in the 1st and 2nd inning with a Drake Sekinger homer followed by an Andrew Arnston RBI double, and an A.J Brinson two-run homer to take an early 5-0 lead in the first.

Brinson had a phenomenal performance at the plate in game two, hitting for the cycle during his 4-for-5 day.

Jay Breed started the second inning off by lacing a double, Landon Brown RBI singled, and Jace Bloomer RBI doubled to give the Gray Wolves an early 11-0 lead. Lourdes' starting pitcher, Caleb Loboschefski, only allowed a pair of hits for Defiance in the first two innings, showing that the Gray Wolves were firing on all cylinders.

However, the pitching woes started for Lourdes in the third inning as the Yellow Jackets came firing back. A run scored by Hayden Kanagy, a Jack Brubaker-Flood RBI double, and a late run scored by Logan Rosenberger cut the lead to 11-4.

Loboschefski was subbed out for Ayden Hall, who proceeded to give up six runs in the 5th. Hall gave up a Dylan Barger RBI single and a three-run homer by Anthony Silvera Jr. Next to pitch for Lourdes was Nathan Ball, who gave up a home run to Kolbe VanderLeest in the sixth inning. Ball was quickly relieved by Joe Smith, who gave up a grand slam to Rigley Hickman. The middle innings' barrage of offense allowed the Yellow Jackets to tie the game at 16 apiece in the 6^th.

Despite being down 0-11 after the second inning, Defiance took their first lead of the game in the 7^th with a Hayden Kanagy RBI single off of Lourdes' freshman reliver, Ryan Ragusa. A subsequent Kolbe VanderLeest RBI single and an error by Brad Hughes gave Defiance a 19-16 lead heading into the seventh inning stretch.

Just when it seemed like the Gray Wolves had no response, they finally fired back in the 7th and 8th thanks to a Brad Hughes triple, an Andrew Arnston three-run homer, a Will Brose sacrifice fly, a Drake Sekinger triple, and an Alex Dupree double. All of these clutch hits let the Gray Wolves come back to tie the game at 23-23 in the 8th.

Adam Lemon came in to throw the top of the 9^th as Lourdes' eighth pitcher of the evening. The freshman threw the first scoreless inning since the 4^th for Lourdes, breathing tons of energy into the Gray Wolves' crowd heading into the bottom of the 9^th. Unfortunately, Lourdes went three-up, three-down against Defiance's closer, Andy Yoder, sending the game to extra innings.

Unfortunately, Defiance pulled away in the 10^th inning, scoring four runs that ultimately lead to the crushing Lourdes defeat. Despite a very solid relief performance, Adam Lemon was credited with the loss for Lourdes. Andy Yoder received his second win of the season for the Yellow Jackets, after a three-inning outing.

Next up
Lourdes takes on Spring Arbor on Wednesday at 1pm for a non-conference away game doubleheader. The Gray Wolves will be looking to bounce back strong from the disappointing game two loss.