Site: Dayton, Tenn. (Senter Field)
Game One: Madonna 2, Shawnee State 0
Game Two: Madonna 4, Shawnee State 0
Records: MU (2-0), SSU (0-6)
Next MU event: Saturday, Feb. 14 – at Bryan (Dayton, Tenn.) – 3 p.m.
DAYTON, Tenn. – The Madonna University baseball team rode the right arms of junior Adam Prashad (Mississauga, Ontario / Mississauga Secondary) and redshirt freshman Michael Kanitra (Livonia, Mich. / Stevenson) to a pair of shutout victories on Friday (Feb. 13) by finals of 2-0 and 4-0 over Shawnee State in the 2015 season opener at Senter Field.
Prashad (1-0) struck out seven while allowing just one walk and scattering four hits in his complete game effort. Kanitra (1-0) made his first appearance on the mound since last March and nearly matched Prashad, tossing all seven innings while striking out three, walking one and allowing an identical four hits, needing just 69 pitches in the win.
After Prashad got out of a two on, two-out jam in the bottom of the first in game one, freshman designated hitter Cole Rize (Dexter, Mich. / Dexter) got Madonna on the board with a one-out home run to left that staked the Crusaders to a 1-0 lead. The home run is the first for Rize in his career as the at-bat was his initial trip to the plate in the Royal Blue and Gold.
Prashad sent Shawnee State down in order in the second, third and fourth innings and his offense gave him another run to work with in the top of the sixth. Redshirt freshman catcher Matt Deneau (Amherstburg, Ontario / St. Thomas of Villanova) reached on a one-out single – his first collegiate hit – and was run for by redshirt junior Ben Matigian(Livonia, Mich. / Churchill). Matigian moved to second on a single from redshirt junior left fielder Mike Tibbits (Plymouth, Mich. / Detroit Catholic Central) and both runners moved up on a single from junior center fielder Zack Byron (Dexter, Mich. / Dexter) to load the bases. MU's second run came home via a balk for the 2-0 lead.
Shawnee State loaded the bases in the fifth, but Prashad was able to work around a hit and an error to get a fly out to end the threat and keep SSU scoreless. Shawnee State went down in order in the sixth and after allowing a one-out single in the seventh, Prashad induced a double play ball to end the game and seal the 2-0 win.
Junior third baseman Levi Larmour (Oakville, Ontario / Stephen Lewis Secondary), Byron, Deneau, Rize and Tibbits all recorded hits for the Crusaders.
Derek Moore suffered the loss for the Bears, allowing both runs. Drew Haislop had two of SSU's four hits.
The Crusaders were the home team in game two and got on the board again in the second inning after a scoreless first, this time with junior first baseman John Lauro(Rochester Hills, Mich. / University of Detroit Jesuit) reaching on a two-out single and came around to score three batters later on a RBI single to right from Tibbits for a 1-0 lead.
The lead grew to 2-0 an inning later when sophomore shortstop Ryan Lambrecht (Lake Orion, Mich. / Lake Orion) drove in Byron – who led the inning off with a single – with a sacrifice fly to center for the second MU run.
MU put two more runs on the board in the last of the sixth, the first coming when freshman catcher Mitch Hudvagner (Cottam, Ontario / Essex) drew a bases loaded walk that forced in redshirt sophomore right fielder Taylor Grzelakowski (Fraser, Mich. / Fraser) from third to make it 3-0. The lead grew to 4-0 when Matigian scored thanks to a Shawnee State miscue to cap the scoring.
Kanitra allowed a leadoff single in the top of the seventh but left the runner at first to complete the shutout and the sweep for Madonna on day one of the 2015 season.
Byron, Grzelakowski, Hudvagner, Larmour, Lauro and Tibbits all recorded hits in the win for Madonna.
Tyler Arthur (0-2) allowed all four Madonna runs while walking four in the loss.
The Crusaders wrap up their opening weekend with a doubleheader against Bryan on Saturday (Feb. 14) at 3 p.m.
