Crusaders Blast Two Homeruns In Saturday's Doubleheader Sweep at Thomas More
CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. - The University of Dallas baseball team swept the Saturday doubleheader against Thomas More University winning 4-1, and 6-2. The Saints took the early lead with a solo shot in the second inning, but Joseph Vondrachek (North St. Paul, Minn.) hit his first career homerun and drove in another run in Game One. Stellar pitching by Conrad Voss (Corona, Calif.) helped Dallas grab the series opener.
Game Two was tied at two heading into the pivotal seventh inning. Nathan Patton (McKinney, Texas) hit a two-run homerun to start a four-run inning for Dallas. Jamie Wallace (Crockett, Texas) shutdown the Saints in his relief outing to push Dallas to the day sweep.
(Game 1 Information)
Team Scores: Dallas (4), Thomas More (1)
Team Records: Dallas (14-13), Thomas More (9-11)
Pitcher Records: W) Conrad Voss (6-3), L) Jordan Houze (2-2)
Dallas tested the Saints in the first inning but ended up stranding runners on second and third base. Thomas More struck the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning when Sean Lawrence smacked a ball over the left field fence. The next half inning Vondrachek knotted the game at one after he blasted his first career homerun to left field.
In the top of the fourth, Paul Scioli (Lubbock, Texas) found runners on second and third. Scioli came up clutch with a base hit to left field to knock in a run. Vondrachek kept the hot bat at the plate going when his single scored another UD run. The Saints once again were in trouble in the sixth. UD had a couple of runners reach base and steal second and third, but the Saints pitching kept the game close by getting out of the jam.
Lawrence reached on a fielding error and later advanced to second via a wild pitch. Voss used his ground ball pitch to escape the inning with no harm. In the seventh, Luke Boylson (Fairview, Texas) added to the Dallas lead when his one-out single helped score a run. Voss then completed the game on the mound with a 1-2-3 bottom half of the seventh to bring Dallas the non-conference victory.
Voss matched a career-best eight strikeouts and now has gone seven innings for the third time this season. He allowed one earned run on five hits and only one walk.
Vondrachek led Dallas with two RBI with a 2-2 day at the plate and a walk. He also scored one run. Josh Abalos (Lewisville, Texas) also had a two-hit day and scored a run. Patton earned three base-on-balls and scored a run for UD. Mark Peterson (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Michael Jaquez (Irving, Texas) both notched a double in the game.
Five different Saints each had one hit. Bailey Martin secured the only walk and stolen base for the team. Sam Hauer and Lawrence grabbed the only extra-base-hits. Five pitchers combined for seven strikeouts.
SOCIAL MEDIA
#UDCrusaders WIN! Take game one at Thomas More!
— UDallas Athletics (@UDallasSports) April 6, 2019
- Vondrachek (2-2, 2 RBI, R, BB, SB)
- Abalos (2-4, R, 2 SB)
- Voss (7 IP, 5 H, R, BB, 8 K)
- Jaquez (1-4, 2B, R)#WeAreUD #d3baseball pic.twitter.com/bwCk78WGe0
(Game 2 Information)
Team Scores: Dallas (6), Thomas More (2)
Team Records: Dallas (15-13), Thomas More (9-12)
Pitcher Records: W) Jamie Wallace (5-2), L) Jonathan Breeden (2-3)
With two runners on and one out Peterson brought in the first run of the game with a single to right field in the opening frame. Thomas More responded in their half when Joshua Boeckmann drove in a run with a base hit through the left side to knot the game at one. Dallas tested the Saints in the second inning, but a put out at home kept the Crusaders off the board.
TMU regained the momentum when they notched a couple of walks and Brett Benzinger pushed a run across with a hard single through the left side of the infield. Dallas pitching then got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third to keep the game at arm's reach.
Dallas started some two-out magic in the fifth. Two walks put some baserunners on for UD. Abalos singled up the middle as Patton came in to score. The Saints tried to duplicate that inning with their own in the sixth. With two outs TMU took advantage of some Dallas defensive miscues, but UD kept the Saints from scoring.
Tied at two heading into the final inning, Jessup Scott (Lewiston, Idaho) singled and advanced to second via an error to get something started for Dallas. Patton then crushed his second homerun on the campaign to put UD up 4-2. Dallas tacked on two more runs to put things out of reach in the inning. Wallace used a double play to end the game and pick up the win.
Peterson, Boylson, and Jaquez each had two hits in the game. Patton and Abalos both drove in two runs, as Patton scored twice. Jaquez and Vondrachek each swiped one base. Wallaced pitched 5.2 innings in relief, gave up seven hits and matched a season-high six strikeouts.
Matt Wellbrock led the Saints with two hits, as the team earned seven walks. TMU used three pitchers in Game Two.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Patton clobbered his 2nd HR of the season (4th Career) to break 2-2 tie in Game 2 at Thomas More! Two runs scored on the blast! Also scored game-tying run back in 5th!#WeAreUD #d3baseball pic.twitter.com/CNkjuZgqrb
— UDallas Athletics (@UDallasSports) April 7, 2019
UP NEXT
Dallas and Thomas More will conclude the series tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 12:00 p.m. (EST).