LAKE WALES, Fla. - - The Madonna University baseball team used a 19-hit effort to down No. 21 Warner University on Monday at the Royals Baseball Field.
The win improves MU to 3-1 on the season while WU falls to 10-5.
MU got on the board in the second, as Zach Flavin (Novi, Mich.) hit a one-out double and advanced to third on a Shawn Little (Canton, Mich.) single. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead.
The Crusader lead grew to 4-0 in the third as Mike Gansser (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) reached on a one-out single and was followed by a single from Aaron Hacias(Sterling Heights, Mich.). Reigning WHAC Player of the Year Kevin Zerbo (Farmington, Mich.) brought both runners home with a double and moved up on the throw to the plate to make it 3-0 put a runner on third. Zerbo then came home on a wild pitch to make it 4-0 MU after the top of the third.
MU made it 7-0 in the fourth, using a Ryan Morrow (Taylor, Mich.) single and following a walk to Gansser, Zerbo was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Scott Boyer(Flat Rock, Mich.) unloaded the bases with a double, scoring Morrow and Gansser to make it 6-0. Flavin reached on a Royal miscue, allowing Zerbo to score from third to make it 7-0.
Crusader starter Trent Pohl (Grand Ledge, Mich.) ran into trouble in the fourth and fifth, allowing three runs to trim the MU lead to 7-3.
MU tacked on two more runs in the seventh as Little led off with a double and came home on a Morrow double to make it 8-3. After Gansser reached on an error and Hacias drew a walk, Zerbo drove in his third run of the day to make it 9-3.
WU got one back in the bottom of the eighth off of reliever Jeff Mann (Waterford, Mich.) but the junior righty threw a perfect ninth, striking out the final hitter for the 9-4 MU win.
Pohl - who was making his collegiate debut - earned his first win, throwing six innings, allowing just five hits while striking out seven. Mann picked up the save, going three innings, allowing a run on three hits. Zerbo and Flavin both went 4-for-5 with Zerbo driving in three.
MU returns to the diamond on Tuesday, taking on Evangel University in a 12:30pm double header in Winter Haven, Fla.
