LIVONIA, Mich. -- The Siena Heights baseball team swept Marygrove, 17-0 and 6-3, in a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference doubleheader on Wednesday at Madonna.
Winning pitcher Thomas McCarter threw a three-hit shutout in the opener, which lasted seven innings. McCarter recorded two strikeouts and one walk.
Eric Henderson led the SHU offense with a 4-for-5 game. He had a double, two runs and an RBI. Travis Stricklin went 3-for-4 with a double, homer, three runs and three RBI.
Also for the Saints, Dennis Sharp batted 2-for-3 with four runs and two RBI while Zack Dunlp contributed a 2-for-3 outing with a run and two RBI. Drew Milligan finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
Raymond Cleary and Nathaniel Kraus drove in two runs apiece. Austin Hauck scored twice.
A two-run homer by Stricklin gave the Saints a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Dunlop had an RBI single in the third, helping SHU to a 3-0 advantage.
Siena Heights then exploded for nine runs in the fourth inning and five in the fifth.
During the fourth, Kraus had a two-run single while Cleary, Henderson, Dunlop, Hauck and Sharp contributed RBI singles. Milligan and Stricklin smacked RBI singles and Sharp drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth.
Jacob Baker was the losing pitcher for Marygrove. Daniel Bailey tossed two innings of shutout relief. On offense, David Chung and Jon Weatherspoon had doubles.
The nightcap also lasted seven innings as SHU held off a late Marygrove rally.
Henderson had a double and three RBI while Milligan batted 2-for-3 with two runs and a stolen base. Freddy Jehle also scored twice for SHU (16-20, 11-12).
Siena Heights took the lead on an RBI single by Kraus in the second. Dunlop and Hauck added a sacrifice fly and RBI single, respectively, in the third before Henderson put SHU up, 4-0, with a fifth-inning sac fly.
The Mustangs (2-33, 1-23) pushed across three runs in the sixth. During the frame, Siena Heights starting pitcher Kyle Kuhr was lifted in favor of Justin McPherson.
McPherson inherited a one-out, bases-loaded situation. Each inherited runner scored, but McPherson kept SHU in the lead and earned the save through 1 2/3 frames of work.
Kuhr gave up three runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He had five strikeouts and one hit batsman.
Henderson ripped a two-run double in the SHU seventh, expanding the Saints' lead to 6-3 for insurance purposes.
James Edwards and Chris Gittleman had 2-for-3 performances for Marygrove. Ryne Underwood was the losing pitcher.
Siena Heights will return to action on Friday and Saturday with a four-game WHAC doubleheader against Indiana Tech. The series was originally scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at SHU Baseball Diamond, but the teams will play one day earlier in order to avoid inclement weather.
