No. 8 Racers Blank Madonna at Comerica Park

DETROIT – In a game played at Comerica Park, the home of the Detroit Tigers, the NAIA No. 8 University of Northwestern Ohio baseball team took on its Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference rival, Madonna University, in the series finale.

After an hour rain delay pushed first pitch back an hour, UNOH (33-10, 22-1 WHAC) showed no signs of hesitation under the big lights as junior outfielder Kyle Fisher ripped a leadoff home run to left field to put the Racers up 1-0 to start the game. The bomb was his 14th career homer which is a program record. The Racers went on to tally three more runs in the contest while a flawless defensive unit secured the 4-0 shutout victory over Madonna (22-15, 14-8 WHAC).

The Racers had a pair of prime opportunities to extend their lead in the second and third innings but came up just short of scoring the insurance runs. Carlos Baerga, Jr. ripped a two-out triple to right center in the second while Fisher nearly powered his second home run of the game in the third inning, but it wrapped foul before striking out.

A perfect fourth inning by both teams led to a hungry UNOH offense as Blake Maines got the fifth rolling with a leadoff double down the left field line. A pinch-run opportunity by Jensen Riley allowed for a Baerga sacrifice bunt to set up the sacrifice fly situation. DayFran Ortiz walked and stole second to apply more pressure with one out, but a second Fisher strikeout looked to lessen UNOH's chance of extending its lead. However, a wild pitch got past the catcher as the runners advanced with Riley scoring the second run of the game.

The final bit of scoring for UNOH came in the seventh inning as a leadoff single to left center by Jonathan Rodriguez led to him reaching third on a stolen base and Maines groundout. Baerga drove him in with a RBI single to left as the high-powered UNOH offense forced the second Madonna pitching change. Fisher shrugged off his previous two at-bats and stepped up to the plate with two outs to drive a RBI double to the left-center gap scoring Baerga.

Damon Proctor (10-0) continued to roll on the mound as he looked to go the distance for the fourth time this season. However, a leadoff single in the ninth led to Ross Cervantes entering in a non-save situation to force a double play ball before capping the night with a looking strikeout. Proctor threw some of his best stuff of the entire season as he allowed just five hits through 8.0 innings as he allowed no more than one baserunner at a time with only one runner reaching second all game while striking out eight batters.

The victory is also the 19th of his career which ties Brodie Mitchell's career record for the Racers.

UNOH returns home for a weekend series against Lawrence Technological University in the first ever matchup between programs. A doubleheader on Saturday, April 22 will get things going at 1 PM from Racers Baseball Field and the St. Rita's Sports Complex while a solo game will wrap it all up on Sunday.