The Aquinas baseball team earned a WHAC doubleheader split against visiting Lawrence Tech on Tuesday afternoon (Apr. 13) at the WMSC Sports Complex, with senior pitcher
Travis Keys stealing the spotlight. Keys, AQ's lefthanded ace, tossed a complete game gem in the opener, setting a new Aquinas record with 16 strikeouts in the 5-0 victory.
AQ won game one against the Blue Devils before coming up short in the nightcap to Lawrence Tech, 6-4. With the twinbill split, AQ is now 17-17 on the year and 2-8 in WHAC play, while LTU is 8-10 overall and 3-3 in league action.
Keys was the story of the day, breaking the previous Aquinas record of 13 strikeouts in a game. Josh Drake first held the mark with 13 K's against Siena Heights on May 1, 2011, while Kaleb Ort equaled that figure with 13 strikeouts against Madonna exactly two years later on May 1, 2013.
Keys broke the record with his first strikeout of the eighth inning and added a second one to end the eighth for his 15th punchout. He came back out for the ninth and fittingly struck out the final batter of the game for his 16th strikeout of the afternoon. He finished one strikeout shy of tying the all-time WHAC record of 17 K's, done by UNOH's Jon Bobea against Marygrove on April 23, 2016.
The Saints provided Keys some run support early with a two-run RBI single from
Brady Paganelli in the second inning, scoring
Sean Wing and
Dominic Guzman. AQ tallied its final three runs on an LTU error, a safety squeeze bunt, and a double steal. Both teams managed only three hits apiece.
Keys struck out the side in the first and again in the third inning. He also picked off a pair of Lawrence Tech baserunners at first base in the opening four innings. In the fourth, sixth, and eighth innings, he struck out a pair of Blue Devils and recorded a strikeout in all nine innings. He moves to 4-1 on the year with his complete game three-hit shutout, walking two batters in his 120-pitch outing.
Guzman scored three runs as a courtesy runner for
Dane Smitz, who finished 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. Paganelli notched two ribbies with his go-ahead single in the second inning.
Lawrence Tech scored four first-inning runs in game two, but the Saints responded with an
Alex Strickland solo homer to right field and a
Ryan Gillings sacrifice fly, both in the second inning. It was 5-2 in the fifth inning when
Nathan Hughes delivered a two-run homer to center field, scoring
Michael Maher for the 5-4 score. It was Hughes' seventh roundtripper of the season, which is second-most in the league.
The Blue Devils added a run in the eighth and although AQ put the tying runs on base in both the eighth and ninth innings, the Saints were unable to get either runner across, ending the comeback threat.
Hughes finished 3-for-5 with a double, homer, and two RBI, while Strickland was 2-for-5. Both Wing and Paganelli walked twice in game two.
Ben Snider (2-3) suffered the loss, allowing four runs on three hits. He struck out five in four innings.
Hunter Morrison and
Richard Steffan both allowed one run on two hits. Steffan fanned three batters in the final two frames.
AQ takes on Cleary this Saturday (Apr. 17) in a WHAC doubleheader, rescheduled to the WMSC Complex in Rockford. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
