LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Evan Piechota recorded another quality start in a 3-1 setback to undefeated Georgia Gwinnett, fanning 11 Grizzly batters through eight innings to keep one of the nation's best offenses at bay on Thursday (March 10) in Lawrenceville, Ga. The senior pitcher allowed his first three earned runs of the 2016 season – all in the first inning – before settling in to shut down the Grizzlies in a narrow two-run loss.
MU dropped to 6-7 on the season while Georgia Gwinnett, the nation's eighth-ranked team in the NAIA preseason poll, remained unblemished with a 23-0 record after edging out the Crusaders for a 3-1 win.
As part of a stingy start to his senior season, Piechota (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson High School) allowed an RBI single and two sacrifice flies in the first inning before rearing back to punch out 11-of-27 batters in a lineup that has produced north of 10 runs per game this season. After the three-run first, Piechota was able to scatter four hits over the next seven innings by dialing up a combination of pitches while relying on the MU defense behind him to do the rest.
Junior shortstop Ryan Lambrecht (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion High School) continued to drive in runs for head coach Greg Haeger and the Crusaders with an RBI single back up the middle in the third inning to cut the Grizzly lead to 3-1. The third inning single moved Lambrecht's season RBI total to a team-leading 13 through 13 games.
The Crusader bats tallied six hits to equal the hit total of their undefeated counterpart and were able to put runners in scoring position in six of nine innings Thursday evening. Despite getting into scoring position for the majority of the night, the Crusaders were not able to bring another run to the plate as the Grizzlies improved their program-record winning streak to 23 games.
Jimmy White (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sinclair CC) paced the Crusaders with a 2-for-4 night with a pair of doubles while Lambrecht was joined by Shane Dokey (Howell, Mich./Brighton High School), Mitch Hudvagner (Cottam, Ontario/Essex District High School) and Ben Matigian (Livonia, Mich./Churchill High School) with one hit each in the opener of a four-game set in Georgia.
Adam Clark got the start for the Grizzlies and went 7 1/3 with six strikeouts to earn the win. Davis Adkins picked up the save after coming on to record the final four outs.
The same two teams will play two Friday (March 11) beginning at 1 p.m. The host Grizzlies will once again be providing live video coverage on the Grizzly Digital Network. Saturday's single nine-inning tilt will feature live stats only.
