GEORGETOWN, Ky. – Great outings from Evan Piechota and Johno Rodriguez paced a well-rounded day for Madonna baseball as the Crusaders took two from Georgetown (Ky.) on Saturday (March 5) in the Bluegrass State. The Crusaders move to 6-3 on the season and 4-2 in Kentucky alone after sweeping the Tigers on Saturday afternoon.
GAME ONE – (RV) MADONNA 3, GEORGETOWN 2
Junior shortstop Ryan Lambrecht (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion High School) drove in all three MU runs in the opener, beginning with a timely two-out double in the third to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead. Lambrecht was at the plate again in the fifth and quickly made his way around to score off of a two-RBI inside-the-park home run that ended the scoring for the Crusaders in game one.
Chase Dobbie (Mississauga, Ontario/Meadowvale Secondary) got the start at third base alongside Lambrecht and recorded a pair of hits to help lead MU's efforts.
On the mound, senior pitcher Evan Piechota (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson High School) continue his recent dominance with 6 1/3 innings of two-run (one earned) ball. The one earned run was Piechota's first of the season as the senior has shot out to a stellar start to the 2016 campaign. In 19.1 innings pitched, Piechota has allowed three runs, one earned, while holding batters to under .100 at the plate.
Head coach Greg Haeger went to the closer, Bobby St. Pierre, in for the final two outs in the seventh inning and the junior responded by getting the final two outs, including the game's final out when runners were on first and third. The strong effort gives St. Pierre (Windsor, Ontario/Crowder CC) his third save of the season while also lifting Piechota to his team-best third win in 2016.
GAME TWO – (RV) MADONNA 4, GEORGETOWN 0
Johno Rodriguez (Sterling Heights, Mich./Indian Hills CC) did his part in keeping the MU reliever arms in tact by going the distance to toss a complete game one-hitter in his third start as a Crusader. Rodriquez opened his MU career two starts ago with an eight strikeout performance and followed that with seven innings of shutout baseball on Saturday at Georgetown. The junior pitcher improves to 2-1 in a Crusader uniform after the MU offense did the work on the other end in a 4-0 victory.
Shane Dokey (Howell, Mich./Brighton High School), Taylor Grzelakowski (Fraser, Mich./Fraser High School) and Jimmy White (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sinclair CC) all recorded RBIs for the Crusaders. White and freshman Jalen Thomas (Southfield, Mich./Lathrup High School) added on to their stellar start to 2016 with a double each in the nightcap for MU.
UP NEXT
The Crusaders will play the final two of a four-game series beginning Sunday (March 6) at 1 p.m. ET. Officials stats from Saturday and Sunday will not be available until after the entire series is complete, per Georgetown.
