CRESTWOOD, Ill. -  The Madonna University baseball team swept Roosevelt University on Friday afternoon in Crestwood to finish out the fall with a perfect 4-0 record. Strong performances on the mound and hot bats on the offensive front propelled the Blue and Gold to their third and fourth win of the fall, while the Lakers fall to 0-6 on the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

GAME ONE: Madonna 3, Roosevelt 1

• Third Inning

  • Donovan Thacker struck out five of the first six batters before the Lakers took a 1-0 lead t in the bottom of the third following a lead off walk and back-to-back two-out singles.

• Fourth Inning

  • The Crusaders wasted no time earning that run back as Jalen Thomas walked to being the inning and Stephen Parker followed suit with a bunt single. After Nick Sykes grounded into a double play, Jerad Dokey singled to left center scoring Parker, and Noah Renaud tripled to deep center field scoring Dokey for a 2-1 MU lead.

• Seventh Inning

  • The Blue and Gold added an insurance run off a Matthew Staelgraeve double who was brought in by another double off the bat of Adrian Reed. Thacker continued to dominate in the middle innings before being replaced by John Beuckeleare who struck out three of his four batters faced to earn the save.

GAME TWO: Madonna 9, Roosevelt 4

• First Inning

  • A two-out double down the left field line by Jalen Thomas followed by a Noah Moore single plated the first run of the game for the Crusaders. Staelgraeve kept the rally alive with a single and Noah Renaud beat out a ground ball to the shortstop to plate the second MU run of the inning.

  • Roosevelt answered in the bottom half of the inning with a two-out triple to make it a 2-1 game in favor the Crusaders.

• Second Inning

  • Reed singled to center field and Dokey was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second with no outs. Parker bunted and beat the throw for a single to load the bases and Thomas hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to extend the lead to 3-1. A double steal by the Crusaders base runners led to a throwing error by the catcher that scored Dokey for a 4-1 MU lead.

• Fourth Inning

  • Dokey doubled down the right field line before Parker singled and Thomas doubled once again to score Dokey and make it a 5-1 game.

  • Roosevelt closed the gap with two-out double that made it 5-2 in favor of the Crusaders.

• Fifth Inning

  • The Crusaders ran away with the lead thanks to an Alex Garbacik single, followed by singles from both Reed and Dokey before Parker once again bunted and scored Reed on a throwing error by the Laker third baseman. Thomas hit another sacrifice fly that scored Dokey before Noah Moore singled in Parker to make it 9-2 Crusaders.

• Ninth Inning

  • A lone run in the bottom of the ninth would not be enough to complete a comeback as Ethan Whitcomb entered the game to pitch and closed out the game for a final of 9-4.

INSIDE THE BOX

• GAME ONE

  • Parker and Renaud paced MU's attack with four combined hits and an RBI while Dokey, Staelgraeve and Reed each recorded a hit of their own.

  • Thacker dominated on the mound with six innings pitched while only allowing four hits and one run with 10 strikeouts.

  • Bueckeleare closed the game out with three strikeouts and a walk in one inning.  

• GAME TWO

  • The Crusaders offense exploded for 17 hits compared to eight for the Lakers.

  • Seven players recorded a multi-hit game including Dokey (2), Parker (3), Thomas (2), Moore (2), Renaud (2), Garbacik (2), and Reed (2).

  • Victor Mencotti started on the bump striking out 10 and allowing six hits and three runs in five innings of work.

  • Ray Richard, Joe Wozniak, Ross Rickel, and Whitcomb all threw an inning, allowing just two total hits and one total run.

UP NEXT

• The Crusaders do not return to action until Friday, Feb. 8 when they travel to Dayton, Tenn. to take on Bryan College for a four game series.

• Be sure to check out our website www.mucrusaders.com for updated schedule and streaming information.

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