The Crusaders returned to action last week when they faced Stratford University for a double header on Friday, April 6 at the beautiful Bing Crosby Stadium. A slow start hurt the Crusaders, but a Josh Wilson triple, Mike Mersch double, and Kolbe Heisler single helped rack up three runs in the bottom of the third to make it a close 4-3 game. Ian Heisler and Jon Messing both added doubles later, but over the course of the game, the boys in blue had too many errors and could not find the strike zone, endeding up losing the game 14-3.
In the second game of the evening, the Crusaders came off flat footed and could not string together hits. Freshman Sean Bennett led the way with some nice hits throughout the field, but defensive errors plagued the boys once again costing them too many free bases. The Crusader's pitchers struggled to find the strike zone as well, walking 10 batters, leading to a 14-0 loss.
The Crusaders turned right around and played Stratford University again at noon on a cold, cloudy, and blustery Saturday. The Crusaders struggles unfortunately continued from Friday night. Errors plagued the boys and they could not get the bats consistently going, leaving too many base runners on the bases. They showed improvement from the previous game, however, putting together 6 hits. Michael Mersch launched one of the hardest hits of the season, a bomb off of the fence for a long double. Stratford hit the ball well and the Crusaders had no answer, losing the game 12-1.
The Crusaders return to action when they travel to Penn State Mont Alto on Thursday, April 12.