Utica, Mich. — The Jimmy John's Stadium in Utica, Mich., struggled to keep the ball from flying out of the playing field Saturday afternoon (Apr. 15) as the Aquinas baseball team and Lawrence Tech combined to knock out eight home runs in a slugfest of a WHAC doubleheader.
The Blue Devils (18-19, 11-8 WHAC) took the seven-inning opener 7-4 before the Saints (20-17, 10-8 WHAC) bounced back to take the nine-inning rematch, 15-7.
Aquinas crossed the 20-win plateau for the second time in the last three seasons. The 10 conference wins is the most for the Saints since the 2018 season.
Game 1: Lawrence Tech 7, Aquinas 4 (7 Innings)
Both offense needed a little time to get going. While Lawrence Tech scored first in the opening frame, AQ clawed back to even the score at 1-1 on an RBI triple by
Nathan Wilcox in the fourth inning.
Jake Paganelli then gave the Saints the lead with his third home run over the last three games — the previous two were grand slams in a doubleheader sweep against UM-Dearborn on Wednesday (Apr. 12). Paganelli's solo shot to left center on Saturday briefly gave Aquinas a narrow 2-1 advantage.
The Blue Devils answered with two home runs of their own in the bottom half that all landed behind the fence in left center. Andrew Merz hit the first, a three-run blast, and Kellen Banaszewski followed that up with a two-run homer to put LTU up 6-2.
Aquinas was given a glimmer of hope in the top of the seventh when
Dane Smitz keep the home run train going with a two-out, two-run shot to right center. But, after a
Mark Binkowski walk, the Saints left the tying runner at the plate.
Both teams had seven hits. All seven hits for the Saints came from different players.
Game 2: Aquinas 15, Lawrence Tech 7
The Saints' high-powered offense found another gear in the nightcap. AQ set a new season-high as a team in hits (18) and RBIs (14), plus hit multiple home runs in a game for a seventh time this season.
The final score line, however, doesn't quite depict how close the game actually was. Lawrence Tech came back to within a run at 8-7 in the eighth inning before Aquinas pulled away for good with seven runs in the top of the ninth.
After
Grant Martin and
JD Gillies provided RBI singles early on, the Saints went yard again to build up a 5-2 lead. Binkowski, who also hit a grand slam on Wednesday against UM-Dearborn, powered his third home run of the season to center field.
LTU's Nick Olson hit his second run-scoring double of the game in the third inning before the two teams traded home runs in the fourth. Martin hit his fifth home run of the season to plate two runs and Jason Erhardt connected on a solo shot for the Blue Devils.
Binkowski's fourth RBI of the game came off a double in the fifth to give AQ a 8-4 lead.
A two-run homer by Banaszewski in seventh and a two-out RBI single in the eighth helped Lawrence Tech apply some pressure going to the ninth.
Aquinas rose to the occasion.
Braden Brown walked with the bases loaded to start the last inning outburst. Wilcox,
Chase Ingersoll and
Luke Lacross all added no-out RBI hits before AQ's last run was scored on a double play that helped LTU stop the bleeding.
The Saints used four pitchers with middle reliever
Nathan Myers getting the win.
Ethan Pequette started and went three inning. Myers and
Mason Hill then combined to get through five innings before
Evan Douglass faced the minimum of three batters in the bottom of the ninth — getting a timely double play in the process.
The 23-run affair saw at least one team score in every inning, except the sixth.
The Saints were scheduled to play Lourdes at home tomorrow (Apr. 16) but the doubleheader was rescheduled to Apr. 19 due to the threat of inclement weather. AQ will now play again on Tuesday (Apr. 18) at Cleary. The twin bill is set to get underway at 2 p.m.
