Site: Adrian, Mich. (SHU Baseball Field)
Score: Siena Heights 2, Madonna 0
Score: Madonna 5, Siena Heights 3
Records: MU (18-11, 3-3 WHAC), SHU (13-9, 4-2 WHAC)
Next MU event: Sunday, March 25 – at Siena Heights (Adrian, Mich.) – 1 p.m.

ADRIAN, Mich. - - Using a six-inning effort on the mound by sophomore Aaron Saarela(Commerce, Mich. / Lakeland) in the nightcap, the Madonna University baseball team salvaged a split of its Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference double header on Saturday afternoon (March 24) against Siena Heights. MU captured game two by a 5-3 final after dropping game one 2-0.

Game One
For the third straight game, the Madonna offense struggled to score runs, falling 2-0 in the day's opener.

MU collected just four hits in the game with the Crusaders seeing their best chance to score come in the first inning. Senior catcher Drew Adamiec (Walled Lake, Mich. / Central)  led off with a single and two batters later senior center fielder Dan Harder (Brighton, Mich. / Brighton) reached on a single to put runners on the corners but SHU's Corey Alexander recorded the next two outs to keep MU off the board and set the tone for the game.

MU stranded runners in both the third and fourth but only managed to get one more runner on base the remainder of the game as Alexander (4-2) struck out four in a compete game effort.

SHU scored the only runs it needed in the sixth, taking advantage of a MU miscue to extend the inning and push two runs across.

The Crusaders wasted a quality start by junior Jeremy Gooding (Livonia, Mich. / Divine Child Catholic) as the righty flirted with his career-best, striking out 10 Saints while allowing just one earned run and walking one in the loss.

Game Two
The day's second game shaped up to be another pitchers' duel between MU's Saarela and SHU's Jake Sperry. Saarela carried a no hitter through 5.2 while Sperry had a no-no through 4.1 innings before giving up four of MU's five runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Junior shortstop Logan Curtis (Brooklyn, Mich. / Columbia Central) reached on a one-out single and moved to second on a single by junior second baseman Tyler Cotter (Livonia, Mich. / Churchill). After Curtis moved to third on a wild pitch and Cotter stole second, sophomore catcher Donny Holland (White Lake, Mich. / Lakeland) drew a walk to load the bases. An error on a fielder's choice allowed junior center fielder Alex Charles to be safe and scored Curtis and Cotter for a 2-0 MU lead.

Junior left fielder Steve Pelletier (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Harrison) then doubled to score Charles and Adamiec – who ran for Holland – for a 4-0 lead. After a pitching change, Harder singled off of reliever Travis Mielcarek and came home on a double off of the bat of junior first baseman Matthew Cook (Dresden, Ontario / Lambton Kent Secondary) for the 5-0 lead.

Saarela finally gave up a hit in the sixth to Dan Abbott but worked around the hit, a walk and a Crusader error to keep SHU scoreless.

Josh White led off the top of the seventh for SHU with a home run and Todd Vandercook doubled to end Saarela's day and bring in junior righty Robert Fraser(Westland, Mich. / John Glenn). Fraser got a ground ball out but gave up a single and a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. Head coach Greg Haeger then called upon junior righty Randall Stempek (Hartland, Mich. / Hartland) to close the game. Stempek gave up a single that made it 5-3, but settled in and recorded the final two outs for his fourth save of the season.

Saarela (2-4) picked up his second win of the season, striking out a pair while allowing two runs. Sperry (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season after giving up four hits and four runs in the loss.

Pelletier drove in a pair of runs while six different Crusaders recorded base hits in the victory.

The two sides close out their four-game series on Sunday (March 25) with another double header starting at 1 p.m.