PIKEVILLE, Ky. — The Lourdes University baseball team opened the 2023 season on Saturday afternoon with a 20-10 victory in game one of a doubleheader against Pikeville before dropping game two 14-4 in a game called on account of darkness in the sixth inning at Johnny LeMaster Field.
“In game one, Wyatt (Smith) settled in and was able to give us five innings,” Lourdes coach Josh Bradford said. “We got into their bullpen and had a ton of quality at bats. In game two, we got off to a rough start on the mound and was just not able to recover.”
After surrendering three runs in the opening inning, Lourdes bats came alive in the fifth. The Gray Wolves scored five times, including a two-run double by Harrison Jackson (Lake) that gave Lourdes the lead. Pikeville tied the game in the bottom of the fifth before the Gray Wolves jumped in front for good in the sixth.
Lourdes sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring six times in the sixth inning, including a two-run single by Steve Haugh (Anthony Wayne). The Bears scored two in the seventh which Lourdes answered in the top of the eight and added three more in the bottom of the eighth to cut the Gray Wolf advantage to 13-10.
The Gray Wolves broke the game open in the ninth, scoring seven times with 12 batters coming to the plate in the inning.
Haugh drove in five runs in the opener while Jackson had four more RBI. Joel Suraganan (Pickerington, Ont./Dunbarton) had four hits while Jackson and Ryan Jagodzinski (Rossford) had three hits each as part of a 17-hit attack.
