Baseball Drops Heartbreaker in Series Opener vs. Madonna
Location: Lima, Ohio (Racer Field)
Score: Madonna 5, #16 UNOH 4
Records: UNOH 35-10, 23-4 WHAC; Madonna 34-11, 24-4 WHAC
Next UNOH Event: Sun. vs. Madonna – Lima, Ohio (Racer Field); 1:00 p.m.
LIMA, Ohio – The University of Northwestern Ohio baseball team opened a crucial weekend series at home on Saturday, welcoming the Madonna Crusaders to Lima for Senior Weekend. On the day, the Racers found themselves battling not only the Crusaders, but Mother Nature as well, and in the end, UNOH came up on the short end of the stick.
The Racers took a 4-2 lead into the ninth, but Madonna rallied for three runs with two out in the ninth, taking the win, 5-4 and moving ahead of the Racers in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference title race.
Madonna scored first in the third inning, turning a leadoff walk into a run on an RBI-groundout, but UNOH starter Ryan Petrangelo managed to put out the fire and escape with only one run allowed. UNOH continued to trail 1-0, despite out-hitting the Crusaders, and in the seventh inning, the Crusaders tacked on a run to push their lead to 2-0 as the rain began to fall more steadily.
In the bottom of the frame, the Racers appeared to take control of the game, when a leadoff-double from James Cardona and an RBI-single from Jhonniel Alvarez set the table for Rafael Lozada. Lozada hit an 0-1 pitch high in the air to left field, and the win took care of the rest, pushing it out of the ballpark for a two-run homer that put the Racers ahead 3-2. Later in the frame, Zyler Cosby added a sacrifice fly to push across a fourth run, and UNOH took a 4-2 lead into the ninth.
The Racers turned the ball over to closer John Schreiber, but the junior struggled with his command in the rain, walking three – one intentionally – with two groundout mixed in, and the bases were loaded with two out. Schreiber then walked a fourth hitter of the frame to force in a run, and Levi Larmour lined a two-RBI single to recapture the lead for the Crusaders.
UNOH got a two-out baserunner in the ninth when Alex Leach drew a free pass, but Cosby flied out to center and the Crusaders held on to take game one of the weekend series, 5-4. Game two was cancelled due to the rain – which was forecast to get worse as the afternoon wore on.
Patrick Wierimaa (4-2) earned the win, holding the Racers scoreless in the eighth inning – his lone inning of relief. Schreiber (1-1) took the loss, allowing three earned runs on a hit and four walks in one inning of work, and Bobby St. Pierre (10) got the final three outs to earn the save.
Ryan Lozada singled three times in four trips to the plate, scoring a run; Alex Leach had a 2-for-4 afternoon; and Brandon Collins extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a 2-for-3 effort that included a double.
The teams will wrap up the weekend series on Sunday, playing a double-header at 1 p.m. The Racers will honor their 13 seniors between games of the twin bill.