Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Cardinal Field)
Score: Madonna 11, Concordia 10 (18 innings)
Records: MU (14-6, 1-0 WHAC), CUAA (4-20, 3-10 WHAC)
Next MU event: Friday, April 5 – Indiana Tech (Ilitch Ballpark) – 1 p.m.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – In a game that took 18 innings and lasted over five hours, the Madonna University baseball team used a home run from freshman first baseman John Lauro (Rochester Hills, Mich. / University of Detroit Jesuit) to seal up an 11-10 win over Concordia on Wednesday (April 3) at Cardinal Field.

Game two of the opening doubleheader of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference slate for MU was halted in the top of the fourth inning due to darkness. MU leads that contest 3-0.

The two sides combined for 127 at-bats, 38 hits, 21 runs, 24 strikeouts, 18 runs batted in, 108 putouts and nine errors while using a total of 16 pitchers over the 18 innings. The game is the longest for Madonna since a 12-inning loss at Point Loma Nazarene on Feb. 11, 2012.

Lauro led MU at the plate with a 5-for-9 day, driving in a pair of runs. Senior third baseman Justin Cook (Dresden, Ontario / Lambton Kent Secondary) posted four hits and three runs batted in while freshman second baseman Shane Dokey (Howell, Mich. / Brighton) added three hits and scored twice for MU.

The Crusaders offense could not get much going early in the game, stranding seven runners through the first seven innings.

The Cardinals held a 4-0 lead heading into the top of the eighth inning when the Crusaders finally got on the board. Dokey led off with an infield single and came home on a double by senior right fielder Brad Lineberry (Canton, Mich. / Plymouth), cutting the CUAA lead to 4-1.

MU tied the game in the top of the ninth as Lauro led off with a single and pinch runner Ben Matigian (Livonia, Mich. / Churchill) moved to second on a single from junior catcher Donny Holland (White Lake, Mich. / Lakeland). Two batters later Dokey drew a walk to load the bases for Lineberry. Lineberry scored Matigian to make it 4-2. Junior shortstop Victor Barron (Fowlerville, Mich. / Fowlerville) drew a walk to reload the bases for Cook who singled to left, scoring Dokey and Holland and tying the game at four.

Senior righty Jeremy Gooding (Livonia, Mich. / Divine Child Catholic) worked out of a one-out single in the ninth to send the game to extra innings.

Neither side pushed across a run in the 10th or 11th and the game moved to the 12th. Cook led off with a single and moved to second on a single by senior left fielder Steve Pelletier (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Harrison). Lauro doubled to center to score Cook and give MU its first lead of the day, 5-4. Pelletier came home on a wild pitch, making it 6-4. Senior center fielder Alex Charles (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Brother Rice Catholic) then doubled home Holland and Lauro to make it 8-4. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Charles came home to cap the MU scoring on a Dokey single that made it 9-4.

Concordia got all five runs back in the bottom of the frame, all coming with two outs, by taking advantage of four hit batters, two walks and a pair of singles to tie the game again, this time at 9-9.

Both sides scored a run in the 15th inning, making it 10-10 before both offenses went quiet until the 18th.

With one away in the 18th, Lauro took a 1-1 pitch from Garrett Keeler over the wall in straight away right field for his first collegiate home run to give MU an 11-10 edge.

Freshman Evan Piechota (Livonia, Mich. / Stevenson) worked around a leadoff single, stranding the runner at third to earn his first career victory in the marathon game. Piechota (1-0) threw the final three innings for MU, scattering two hits while striking out one for the win.

Keeler (1-2) took the loss for CUAA while Nate McHugh and Jared Janssen each posted four hits.

The Crusaders return to the field on Friday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Indiana Tech. This weekend's series was moved up one day to a Friday-Saturday series due to the forecasted rain for Livonia on Sunday.