ADRIAN – The Siena Heights baseball team welcomed Lourdes to the SHU Baseball Diamond in a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference twinbill on Saturday afternoon in what was Saints head coach John Kolasinski 1,000th and 1,001st career games. The Saints split the doubleheader, losing the first game, 6-2, and winning the second the game, 15-2.
Jake Sperry (Livonia, Mich./Westland John Glenn) started game one and, on his second pitch, gave up a solo home run to Tim DeCant to make it, 1-0 Lourdes. That was the only run the Gray Wolves scored that inning as Sperry was able to get out of it without any more damage.
In the second inning, the Saints loaded the bases, but Lourdes was able to get out of the next three batters to end the inning and strand the runners.
Mike Lollo (Allen Park, Mich./Cabrini) started the third inning getting hit by a pitch and scoring on a Corey Caldwell (Ypsilanti, Mich./Lincoln) RBI single through the left side, tying the game, 1-1.
Lourdes scored one more run in the fifth inning, plating John Crooks on an RBI single by Josh Redies to take a 2-1 lead. It scored an additional two more runs in the fifth on a DeCant single to left field, scoring Cody Berg and Sam Jerome to extend the lead to 4-1.
The Saints got one run back in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Austin Hauck (Saline,Mich./Saline) to score Nolan Herendeen (Grass Lake, Mich./Grass Lake) to make it 4-2.
The Saints once again loaded the bases in the seventh inning, but were unable to get the big hit. The Gray Wolves added two more in the top of the ninth to make it 6-2. Siena Heights had another chance to tie it up in the bottom half of the inning with the bases loaded but came up empty, ending the game.
Herendeen was 3-for-4 with a run scored and a walk. Sperry pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits with two strikeouts and five walks.
In game two, Brent Vaccaro (Saline, Mich./Saline) got the start and pitched four strong innings, giving up two runs, one earned, while striking out two and walking two in a 15-2 win.
The Saints scored three in the second inning after loading the bases with no outs. B.J. Salazar (Lansing, Mich./Lansing Eastern) singled to left field, scoring Herendeen and pinch-runner Travis Podolak (Bowling Green, Ohio/Otsego), to make the score 2-0. Eric Henderson (Howell, Mich./Howell) cranked a single to center field to score Dennis Sharp (Monroe, Mich./Monroe) and made it 3-0.
Lourdes scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning to make it 3-2.
The Saints then exploded for 12 runs in the fifth inning to make it 15-2. Kyle Johnson (Adrian, Mich./Adrian) drilled a ball to the left-center field gap for a triple to score three runs and make it 6-2. Henderson singled to right-center to plate Johnson and make it 7-2. With the bases loaded, Dan Abbott (Plymouth, Mich./Lutheran Westland) singled to left field, scoring Lollo and Henderson to make it 9-2. Robbie Schwartz (Adrian, Mich./Adrian) pinch hit for Drew Milligan (Hudson, Mich./Hudson) and singled in Kyle Benschoter (Hudson, Mich./Hudson) making it 10-2. Sharp walked, scoring Abbott to make it 11-2. Tyler Butlin (Saint Clair, Mich./Saint Clair), pinch running for Caldwell, scored on a wild pitch and extended the lead to 12-2. Johnson got to the plate a second time and walked, scoring Schwartz and giving the Saints a 13-2 edge. Sharp scored on another wild pitch and made it 14-2. Henderson lined one down the leftfield line scoring Podolak and giving the Saints a commanding 15-2 lead.
Henderson finished the game 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored. Abbott went 1-for-4 with two RBI.
The Saints and Gray Wolves will be back at it on the SHU Baseball Diamond on Monday, April 1 for two more games in WHAC play.
