Site: Livonia, Mich. (Ilitch Ballpark)
Score: Madonna 2, Indiana Tech 1; Madonna 2, Indiana Tech 1
Records: MU (16-6, 3-0 WHAC), IT (19-9, 9-3 WHAC)
Next MU event: Saturday, April 6 – Indiana Tech (Ilitch Ballpark) – 1 p.m.

LIVONIA, Mich. – Behind a pair of solid performances on the mound from seniors Matthew Cook and Josh Vandemark and a pair of game winning runs batted in from junior catcher Donny Holland, the Madonna University baseball team swept its Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference doubleheader with Indiana Tech on Friday (April 5) at the Madonna Athletic Complex, home of Ilitch Ballpark by matching 2-1 finals.

Holland (White Lake, Mich. / Lakeland) led MU in game one, going 3-for-4 with a RBI while senior right fielder Brad Lineberry (Canton, Mich. / Plymouth) and junior shortstop Victor Barron (Fowlerville, Mich. / Fowlerville) both collected a pair of hits. Senior third baseman Justin Cook (Dresden, Ontario / Lambton Kent Secondary) drove in the other Madonna run.

After Madonna left the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, Tech took the game's first lead, scoring its lone run in the top of the second inning. Eric Wald singled home Bryan Brudi with two away to give Tech the 1-0 lead.

Tech's Josh Miller worked out of jams in the third and fourth before MU got to him for a run in the bottom of the fifth. Lineberry hit a one-out double down the left field line and moved to third on a wild pitch. Cook drove in Lineberry with a ground out to tie the game at 1-1.

After two scoreless innings, MU posted what proved to be the game winning run in the eighth. Senior left fielder Steve Pelletier (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Harrison) led off with an infield single off of Tech reliever Curtis Wise. Pelletier moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from freshman pinch hitter Ben Matigian(Livonia, Mich. / Churchill) and came home on Holland's RBI single to right for a 2-1 lead.

Matthew Cook (Dresden, Ontario / Lambton Kent Secondary) then came out for the ninth and worked around back-to-back one-out singles to retire the final two Tech hitters for the complete game victory.

Cook (3-1) allowed just one run in his nine innings of work, scattering 11 hits and striking out six for his third win of the season.

Wald led Tech with three hits while Wise (1-1) took the loss for the Warriors, giving up one run in his inning of work.

In the day's second game freshman second baseman Shane Dokey (Howell, Mich. / Brighton), freshman first baseman John Lauro (Rochester Hills, Mich. / University of Detroit Jesuit) and Lineberry all collected a pair of hits with Barron and Holland driving in the two MU runs.

MU got on the board with a single run in the third inning when Dokey came home on a Barron single to right for a 1-0 lead.

The Crusaders added an insurance run in the sixth when Holland hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored junior designated hitter Ryan Lech (Macomb, Mich. / L'Anse Creuse North) from third for a 2-1 lead.

That run in the sixth proved to be the difference in the game as the Warriors scored a single run off of Vandemark (Hicksville, Ohio / Hicksville) with two outs. Pinch hitter Ignatius Mackenzie walked before being lifted for Jake Owens. Owens game home on a double to right center by Wald that pulled Tech within one, 2-1. Vandemark (3-1) then ended the threat, getting Derek Morgan to fly out to right, sealing up the second 2-1 win of the day for MU.

Vandemark went all seven innings, striking out six and scattered four hits for his third win of the season.

Daniel Puckett (5-2) took the loss for Tech, giving up both MU runs while allowing seven hits and striking out five. Four different Warriors recorded hits with Wald driving in a run.

The two sides wrap up the four-game series with another double header on Saturday (April 6). First pitch for game one is set for 1 p.m. and the first ever Madonna University baseball team will be honored between games at the Madonna Athletic Complex, home of Ilitch Ballpark.