With seniors playing their last game on Emory G. Bauer Field, the Crusaders pulled together to grind out a series win against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies. The Brown and Gold were dealt an early blow in the second inning with Oakland scoring two runs on a fielder's choice and a solid base hit to right, but they bounced right back in the bottom half of that frame thanks to a Karch Kowalczyk RBI single and a passed ball that allowed Kowalczyk to score from third.

Oakland went on to score two again in the top of the third, but after that it was all Valparaiso. Ellis Foreman settled down after that and ended up throwing 7 full innings, only allowing three earned runs on eight hits. Bryce Yoder and Kowalczyk also threw a scoreless inning apiece to help preserve the win on the defensive side.

On the offensive side of things it was a balanced attack on the afternoon that saw the Crusaders rack up 14 hits, with only two players not getting into the scorebook by hitting safely.

The Crusaders pulled away in the fifth inning with help from Mark Johnson’s RBI double that saw them take the lead and hold onto it for good. Spencer Mahoney paced the rest of the team with three hits and two runs scored and four different Crusaders tallied RBIs, in a game that also saw Valpo score four unearned runs.

With the home part of the schedule concluded and a series win against Oakland (8-28, 3-15 Horizon) in the books, the Crusaders (18-24, 8-10 Horizon) will play seven games on the road before moving onto the Horizon League Conference Tournament. You can stay up to date, as well as check out Gametracker and radio links to all the games on valpoathletics.com