Howell, Mich. — Aquinas starting pitcher Conor Gausselin threw seven near perfect innings in Game 1 of Tuesday's doubleheader (Apr. 18) before the Saints fell behind 7-0 in the nightcap to ultimately leave Howell, Mich., with an indecisive split against Cleary.

AQ won the first outing 3-1 before dropping Game 2, 7-4.

The Saints (21-18, 11-9 WHAC) finds themselves in tight battle to be one of the Top 6 teams in the conference to reach the WHAC Tournament. After splitting with Cleary (25-16, 14-9 WHAC), AQ sits in seventh place with Lawrence Tech (11-8 WHAC) right in front of them.

Game 1: Aquinas 3, Cleary 1 (7 Innings)

Gausselin lost his no-hit bid in the fourth inning. But, by that time, the Saints had already scored all the runs needed.

In the opening frame, Mark Binkowski tripled to left field to bring in leadoff man Dane Smitz for the first run of the game. Grant Martin followed that up with an RBI single to center field to plate Binkowski.

Another RBI triple in the second by Smitz gave AQ it's third and final run of the game. That turned out to be enough.

Gausselin pitched a seven-inning complete game and racked up 10 strikeouts along the way. He faced 26 batters with only six of them reaching base — two hits, two walks and two hit-by-pitches. 

The Cougars scored their only run of the game on an RBI single in the fourth inning.

Aquinas finished with eight hits. Smitz and Martin each had two hits.

Neither team committed an error.

Game 2: Cleary 7, Aquinas 4

The Cougars' offense got going in Game 2 with two runs in the first inning, four in the third inning and one more in the fourth frame.

Ben Cerven was a driving force for Cleary, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored.

Aquinas tried to ignite a comeback with a pair of runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Binkowski brought in the first run on an RBI sacrifice fly, which was followed by a run-scoring double by Jake Paganelli.

In the next inning, Nathan Wilcox hit a solo home run to right center. His second home run of the season. Smitz then kept his active day going with an RBI double to score Nicolas Verdugo. Smitz went 3-for-5 and was one of four Saints to provide multiple hits.

Nobody could score in the final three innings, despite AQ leaving five runners on base. The Saints left 12 runners on base for the entirety of the game.

Reliever Nathan Esch pitched the last four innings for the Saints and only gave up two hits and a walk.

The Saints have a quick turnaround with a home doubleheader against Lourdes tomorrow (Apr. 19) at Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex in Caledonia, Mich. This will be the first meeting between these two WHAC foes this season. They split a doubleheader at Cornerstone last year.

First pitch for Wednesday's twinbill at Davenport is set for 4 p.m.