Sunday, April 04, 2004

Valparaiso, Ind. - Eric Brauer and Patrick Paulus combined on a two-hit shutout and Kevin Perri had three hits and two RBIs as Valpo defeated IPFW 4-0 to gain a doubleheader split. IPFW won the first game 4-2.

Brauer (1-0), who made his first start of the season, allowed just one hit and a walk, while striking out three in 5 innings. The junior righthander retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced. Paulus, a freshman righthander, hurled the last 2 innings, recording his first collegiate save.

Perri, who is now batting .379, was the hitting star in the nightcap. With two outs in the third inning and runners on first and second, Perri singled, scoring Jeff Rickert to give the Crusaders a 1-0 lead. Kevin Kutansky followed with another RBI single.

In the fifth inning, Perri struck again with two outs, delivering an RBI double that plated Brian Rzepka, who had reached on an error.

Valpo (4-16) added an insurance run in the sixth on Rzepka's sacrifice fly, scoring Josh Piazza who led off the frame with a single.

The Crusaders took advantage of four IPFW errors as two of the four runs off Eric Lambert were unearned.

In the first game, the Crusaders took a 1-0 lead in the third on Mike Arensdorff's RBI single - one of his three hits in the game. IPFW (10-17) tied the game in the fourth when Ryan Keena scored before Brent Alwine was caught stealing.

The Mastodons put some distance between them and the Crusaders with a three-run sixth. Matt Hagedorn's two-out, two-RBI triple was the big hit.

Kyle Obenauf (1-3) pitched 6 1/3 innings for Valpo, allowing three earned runs and 12 hits. The sophomore righthander fanned seven and walked one.

Casey Rohan (2-3) went the distance for IPFW, allowing two earned runs and nine hits, while striking out three and walking none.

Jeff Rickert duplicated Arensdorff's three-hit performance. Arensdorff is now batting .354 overall. Tyler Lowell had two hits in the first game and added a double in the second game win.

Five IPFW players had two hits each in the first game.

Valpo travels to play at Northwestern on Tuesday at 3 p.m.