Baseball falls to Indiana Tech 5-4 in game one of WHAC Championship Series

Baseball

DENEAU'S BIG BAT NOT ENOUGH FOR @MUCRUSADERSBSB IN FIRST GAME OF WHAC CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

PHOTOS | FORT WAYNE, Ind. -  The third-seeded Madonna University baseball team dropped the first game of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Championship Series opener, 5-4, to top seed Indiana Tech at Warrior Baseball Field on Monday night.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow for game two at 3 p.m. and, if the Crusaders win, a third game approximately 30 minutes later for the WHAC Tournament Championship.

HOW IT HAPPENED: INDIANA TECH (42-17) 5, MADONNA (34-16) 4

  • Fourth Inning

    • With setup man John Bueckeleare (SO/Dearborn, Mich.) throwing up zeros through three innings, the offense went to work in the fourth as Jimmy White (SR/Cincinnati, Ohio) singled and Matt Deneau (SR/Amherstburg, Ontario) drove a ball over the right-center field fence for a 2-run homerun and the early lead.

  • Fifth Inning

    • The home team tied the game in the fifth with a hit, an error, two walks and a hit-by-pitch.

  • Sixth Inning

    • Things unraveled in the sixth as two more walks ended the day for Bueckeleare, who threw a career-high 116 pitches. Todd Jones (SR/Monroe, Mich.) relieved him and pitched well, but two seeing-eye singles scored a pair of runs and a foul flyout down the left field line added the final Warriors' tally.

  • Eighth Inning

    • After stranding two in the seventh, Nick Sykes (FR/Livonia, Mich.) came through with a big hit for the Blue and Gold in the eighth as he singled up the middle to score Deneau, who doubled off the left center field wall, to cut the deficit to two.

  • Ninth Inning

    • The Crusaders got a rally going in the ninth as Jared Hagan (SR/Dearborn Heights, Mich.) reached on an error, Jerad Dokey (SO/Howell, Mich.) singled and Jalen Thomas (JR/Southfield, Mich.) flied out to the warning track in right field to plate the fourth run for MU, but a groundout ended the game and put Madonna down in the series 1-0.

INSIDE THE BOX

  • Madonna left nine men on base and stranded a runner in all but two innings, the third and fourth.

  • It was just the fourth loss (23-4) when Madonna out hits its opponent (12-7 tonight), sixth loss (23-6) when the Crusaders score first, but they are now 1-4 when scoring four runs and 26-3 when leading after four.

  • Hagan, who finished 2-for-5 with a run scored, now has 19 multi-hit games and extend his hitting streak to eight games.

  • Thomas saw his streak end at a season-best 14 games, but he drove in a run.

  • Deneau took the team lead in home runs with his ninth of the season and tied Thomas with his 10th double on the year.

  • Bueckeleare pitched well in his first career start as he allowed four runs, two earned, on four hits with five walks and six strikeouts over five innings while Jones finished with one run on three hits with a walk and two strikeouts over three innings of relief.

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