Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PORTSMOUTH, Ohio. -- The Madonna University baseball team would split their two game series on opening day of the 2024 baseball season. The Crusaders traveled to Portsmouth, Ohio to take on Shawnee State University. In game one the Crusaders would win 7-5 and in game two would lose 7-5.   

Game 1:

Entering game one the Crusaders picked right up where they left off last year hitting four home runs to open the year. Two came from newcomer Payton Mazzola, one from Anthony Sharkas, and one from newcomer Josh Medrano. Madonna scored seven runs in the first three innings of the game with two in the first, three in the second, and two in the third. Six of the seven runs would come from those four homers with the final run coming from a Nick Sandiha Jr. sacrifice fly in the top of the third inning. Carson Collins would get the start on the mound to start the 2024 season and would go 3.1 innings with three strikeouts. Ryan Dusang would come in to close it out for the Crusaders going two innings with zero hits given up and three strikeouts in his debut.

Despite being unable to score any runs and only having two hits in the last 4 innings of the game the Crusaders were able to open the 2024 season with the 7-5 win. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Mazzola would go 3-4 with 2 homeruns and 4 RBI's.
• Sharkas went 2-4 with a homerun and 1 RBI.
• Medrano would go 3-4 with a homerun and 1 RBI.

Game 2:

The visiting Crusaders were the first ones to score in game 2, as they looked to take game number two after a double from Medrano. Medrano would then be pinch run for by Aiden Shipman who would steal third and then score after Logan Ellis was caught stealing second.  Shawnee State would then respond however, as they would score two runs in the bottom of the 4th to take a 2-1 lead. The Crusaders would answer back in the top of the 5th after Sharkas would hit his second home run of the day to tie the game up at two a piece. Then in the top of the 7th the Crusaders would retake the lead after Nick Krol hit a triple down the right field line and Mazzola would pick up the RBI after a sacrifice fly to right field to take a 3-2 lead. Shawnee State would have a strong answer in the bottom of the 7th putting up five runs in three hits to retake the lead at 7-3. The Crusaders would come back in the top of the 8th looking to answer again. The Crusaders would score their first run after a Sandiha Jr. walk, an Ellis single, and a Cal Fournier base hit that would score Sandiha Jr. After another walk, the Crusaders would find themselves with the bases loaded with no outs but would only walk away with one run to fall to the bears 7-5. 

Riley Vermander would take the mound to start game 2. He would go two innings giving up only one hit with five strikeouts. Hayden Bailey would take over for him and would have a solid debut going for three innings only giving up three hits with seven strikeouts. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
 

• The Crusaders would finish with nine hits led by Bobby Cavin who would go 2-5.
• Sandiha Jr. would go 1-2 with two walks and a run in his Crusader debut.

UP NEXT:

Madonna will be back in action next weekend as they travel to Georgetown, Kentucky to take on Georgetown College Friday, February 16th. First pitch is set for 12:00 and 3:00 PM.  


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