Men’s Baseball

The Saints took part in a trio of double headers this past week. It started on Wednesday on the road against Madonna. Game one featured a complete game by pitcher Brent Vaccaro and the Saints who struggled early on by giving Madonna an early 4-0 lead going into the third. The Saints answered back with an RBI from Lucas Bartz to trim the lead to 4-1. Both teams remained scoreless until the Saints made their push in the eighth inning, with Nathaniel Kraus’s RBI and Eric Henderson’s two run double to even it up at four apiece. Henderson would later score on an error to give the lead to the Saints for good, taking game one 5-4. Henderson went 3-4 with two doubles, two runs and two RBIs, while Vaccaro allowed only one earned run on eight hits.

Game two provided a similar result, with the Saints taking an early 3-0 lead in the first, thanks to a Henderson two run triple and a Dennis Sharp RBI single. Scores on wild pitches and two run singles by Drew Milligan and Kraus in the sixth put the finishing touches on the game. Siena went on to win game two 9-0. Kyle Burkholder and Justin McPherson collaborated with a six hit shutout for the Saints.

On Saturday, the Saints traveled to Lima to take on Northwestern Ohio in a double header. In game one, the Saints got off to a slow start, going scoreless through the first five innings. The delay was worth it, however, as the Saints came alive in the sixth with a seven run barrage led by Freddy Jehle, who went 4-6 with a double, run and an RBI. Hauck and Zack Dunlop added 3-5 games with a double, two scores for Hauck and an RBI for Dunlop to help the Saints earn a 7-4 lead with two innings remaining. The Saints added two more runs to take game one 9-4.

Game two had the home team up in the third inning draw first blood. Unable to answer right away, Northwestern Ohio added two more runs in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead. Siena scored their two runs in the fifth off a single in the fifth by Travis Stricklin. Tayler Thelen was the losing pitcher, surrendering five hits and three strikeouts.

On Sunday, the Saints went up against their previous opponent and were on the wrong end of both contests. In game one, the Saints kept it close through four innings, trailing 4-2 before Northwestern Ohio erupted for nine runs through the remaining innings while only allowing one in return. Siena went on to drop game one 13-3 with Tyler Butlin as the losing pitcher, giving up four runs and seven hits.

Game two yielded little rebuttal as the Saints fell behind early with the hosts ripping off 12 runs within the first two innings. Vaccaro was the losing pitcher in game two, yielding his first loss of the season with nine runs on nine hits.

Men’s Lacrosse

The Saints took part in a pair of games last week. Starting out trailing 1-0 after the first against last year’s national champion, Grand Valley State, the Saints were able to come away with three goals in the second to end the half trailing 4-3. After scoring two goals each, the Saints found themselves down by one to enter the final period. With less than 10 minutes remaining in the final quarter, Chris Acton scored the tying goal to even things up at 6, but the Saints were unable to stop the visitors from answering with a goal of their own. Neither team was able to score again, and the Saints fell 7-6. Six Saints scored in the match with Ryan Mailloux recording 14 saves.

On Sunday, the Saints played host to Ferris State and were on fire from the start, racking seven goals to take a 7-0 lead after the first period. The Saints ended the first half leading 11-0 and had more to come in the second half, outscoring Ferris 10-2 and running away with a 21-2 win. Acton and John Holowaty each had six point games with Acton adding two goals and four assists, while Holowaty tallied three goals and three assists.

Men’s Track

The Saints took part in both the Cumberland Invite and Northwood Open this past weekend. On Saturday, the Saints took five individual events with four NAIA automatic performances while winning the Cumberland Invite. Logan Moore led the Saints with two event wins in both the 110 meter hurdles (14.64) and the 400 meter hurdles (54.03), while Gerald Richardson cleared 6’10 ¼” to take the high jump. Richard DePalma led a 1-2 finish in the pole vault, clearing 16’4 ¾”, while teammate, Matthew Leaders, cleared 15’5” for second. Gauge Aebersold rounded out the winners with an auto of 53’10 ½” in the shot put for first along with a runner-up in Discus with a distance of 157’2 ½”.

The Saints took part of their throwing team to the Northwood Open, and Paul Jacobs led the team as the top finisher for the program. Jacobs took sixth in the shot put with a throw of 44’2 ½”.

Women’s Golf

Last weekend, the Saints competed in the Indiana Wesleyan Spring Invitational. The Saints were led by Lauren Cojei, who took third in individual standings with a two day total of 158 (80-78). Cojei led a quartet of Saints in the top ten, including Alyssa Fausneaucht and Sydney Gossett, who tied for sixth with a score of 161, and Andrea Richards, who tied for eighth with a score of 162. The Saints as a team took runner up in the 10 team, 51 golfer event with a score of 642.

Women’s Lacrosse

The Saints had a trio of games this past week, starting out against Indiana Tech on the road in Fort Wayne, IN. On the road, the Saints found themselves battling from behind after the first half, trailing 9-7. The Saints, at one time, had it tied at 7-7 before Tech ripped off four goals and never looked back, outscoring the Saints 11-5 in the second half and going away with a 20-12 win. Erin Kehn led the Saints with five goals, while goaltender, Tabitha Ferguson, stopped 19 shots.

On Saturday, the Saints traveled to Grand Rapids to take on Aquinas. In the first half, the Saints found themselves behind 9-6 with a half to play. In the second stanza, the Saints charged forward with nine goals but allowed seven in return, giving up a one point win to Aquinas in a 16-15 loss. Madison Sabourin led the Saints with seven goals, while Ferguson stopped seven shots.

In the Regular Season finale against Davenport, the Saints trailed Davenport 7-2 in the first half but were able to trim the lead down to two multiple times before being answered by Davenport on each occasion. The Saints were outscored in the second half 4-3 and lost the contest 12-8 on the road. Kayla Parks and Taylor Swartz led the way for the Saints with two goals each with four other Saints tallying single goals. Ferguson had 11 saves in the contest as the Saints became tied with Aquinas for fourth place in the WHAC, but due to the tiebreaker won by Aquinas, they received the fourth seed in the WHAC tournament.

Softball

The Saints took part in a pair of doubleheaders this past week, starting off with Indiana Tech in New Haven, IN on Saturday. In game one, the Saints took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning behind a Taylor Hayes RBI double, a Hannah Bleikamp bases-loaded walk and a Bitty Treece sacrifice fly ball. The Saints never trailed in game one, and Tech scored their lone run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bleikamp and Megan Jones led the way for the Saints, going 3-3 and 2-3 respectively. Kelsie Abbott was the winning pitcher of game one, allowing one earned while giving up six hits and five strikeouts.

Game two lasted 12 innings with both teams going scoreless from innings five through 11 after being tied at 6-all. In the top of the 12th, the Saints had endured enough, going on to serve up four runs in the 12th and came away with a sweep of Tech with a 10-6 game two win. Abbott led the Saints’ offensive attack, going 4-7 with a triple, a stolen base and two runs, while Jones went 3-5 with a run and two RBIs. Starting pItcher, Morgan Warfield went 3-7 with two RBIs and a stolen base but was pulled in place of Abbott for relief after giving up six runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. Abbott came in to not allow a run and compiled six strikeouts in the process.

On Sunday, the Saints traveled to Lima, OH to take on Northwestern Ohio in a double headed affair. In game one, the Saints trailed 4-3 after the second and would be behind 6-3 after the fifth. The Saints went on to explode for 13 runs in the next two innings to take a commanding 16-6 lead, never looking back for a second. Skylar Crenshaw led the Saints going 4-4 with two runs, four RBIs, one stolen base and her first collegiate home run. Morgan Warfield was the winning pitcher of game one, allowing 11 hits and five earned runs.

In game two, the high scoring continued as the Saints found themselves trailing 8-2 after the second inning before answering back with an eight run third inning of their own. Their 10-8 lead was short-lived as the hosts came back with five runs in the third to regain the advantage 13-10. The Saints would go on to be outscored in the final two innings, 7-2 and dropped game two 20-12.  Warfield went 3-4 in the game with a triple, a double, two runs and an RBI, while Jones contributed a 2-4 game with two doubles, one run and two RBIs. Abbott came out as the losing pitcher, allowing 13 runs on 15 hits.

Women’s Track & Field

The Saints took to the road to compete in the Cumberland Invitational and Northwood Open this past weekend. In the Cumberland Invitational, the Saints had four event wins and a pair of NAIA automatic performances while taking runner up. Sheila McKinley took the pole vault with a clearance of 11’9 ¾”, while the 4×8 team of Ashley Russo, Mariah Ridal, Brianna Pekel and Arika Knannlein took their time of 9:25.59 to the winner’s circle. Jalesia Johnson took the 200 with a time of 25.61, while also helping the 4×4 team of Alexis Johnson, Knannlein and Pekel win with a time of 3:57.49.

At the Northwood Open, Kasey Renshaw won the hammer throw in school record-setting fashion. Renshaw won with a distance of 190’7”, which is an NAIA automatic qualifying mark, beating her previous best by 13’. Renshaw also took runner up in shot with a distance of 43’5”.