Top Seeds Win Respective Pods at Baseball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - (TOURNAMENT PAGE) - The top two seeds won their respective pods in the 2023 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Baseball Tournament. Top-seeded Concordia and second-seeded Madonna will now face each other in the best-of-3 Championship Site Series May 8-9 at Concordia.
Pod A
#2 Madonna def. #4 Aquinas, 29-6 box score
Pod A saw Madonna knocked out Aquinas, 29-6, sparked by a 15-run third inning at Ilitch Ballpark. With the score tied at 1-1, MU put on an offensive clinic, hitting five home runs and nearly batting around twice. Aquinas tied to stop the onslaught by using four different pitchers in the inning, but Madonna racked up 12 hits.
The Saints got out of the inning and were able to hold MU scoreless for the next three until Cal Fournier and Aaron Sexton each homered in the seventh and Zachary Beadle in the eighth. In all, Madonna put 13 more runs on the board in the final three innings while AQ plated five.
Dustin Cummins got the win as he went four innings and allowed four hits to improve to 4-0. Alex Garbacik went 5-for-8, including two homeruns, and drove in five runs.
Ethan Pequette suffered the loss, giving up three hits and four earned runs to fall to 2-2. Grant Martin and Joseph Kelley record two hits each and Braden Brown drove in two runs for the Saints.
Pod B
#1 Concordia def. #5 Indiana Tech, 8-4 box score
In Pod B, Concordia defeated Indiana Tech for the second time in as many days, by a score of 8-4. Indiana Tech led through six until the Cardinals plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie it at 3-3.
The Warriors went three-and-out in the eighth and Concordia came alive in the bottom of the frame. Aaron West was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Fleming signled up the middle and Jimmy Wressel reached on a bunt down the third-base line. With bases loaded, the next batter was the recipient of a walk and West scored. Four more runs followed as the Cardinals batted through the order.
Tech put one across in the ninth, when Tristan Osika doubled to score Jayden Reed with two out, but the Cardinals threw out the next batter for the win.
Trey Acker (2-0) got the win and Kyle Hebner drove in three for CUAA (46-6).
Marty McDonald (1-1) suffered the loss for the Warriors (33-17). Reed went 3-for-4 from the plate.