GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – After seeing their weekend series rained out against Madonna, the Cornerstone baseball team will finally get a shot at the defending WHAC regular season and tournament champions on Tuesday in a Noon doubleheader at Ilitch Ballpark in Livonia. CU will then head to Ann Arbor over the weekend to face the Cardinals in a 3-game series.
What's Next?
Cornerstone (3-0, 3-0 WHAC) faces Madonna on Tuesday in a makeup of their rained out weekend. Madonna took three of four games in the regular season series in Grand Rapids last season and then defeated the Golden Eagles in the opening game of the 2016 WHAC Tournament.
Statistically Speaking
Through three games in the 2017 season, Cornerstone has seen its bats come alive as
Aaron Krupansky and
Brady Volmering are both batting .500 while Jony Abbadusky is just behind at .400 while scoring a team-best six runs. On the mound,
Noah Reed leads the starters with a 1.50 ERA while
Kyle Herrick (2.57) and
Clay Keltner (13.50) are the other two.
New Head Coach
Chuck Lowitzki is making his head coaching debut in the college ranks starting this fall. Lowitzki has been the recruiting coordinator and pitching coach since the Golden Eagles re-started the program in 2012. Prior to coming to Cornerstone, Lowitzki served as an assistant coach at Prairie Ridge (Illinois) for 13 years where he led team to eight Regional titles, five conference titles and a state runner-up in 2010
Alums Return to Coach
Head coach
Chuck Lowitzki has a whole new staff starting this year. He was able to add four alums to the program on staff as he welcomes in
Tommy Enslen (hitting coach),
Luke Heller (pitching coach) as well as
Travis Gordon and
Seth Ritsema as assistants.
Series Notes
Cornerstone and Madonna have met 16 times with the Crusaders owning a 12-4 lead in the series. Cornerstone and Concordia have met 14 times with the Cardinals up 11-3 in the series. Last year, CU went 2-2 against Concordia.
Quick Look at Madonna
Madonna and head coach Greg Haeger, who is in his 21st season, come into the weekend with a 1-2 overall record as they fell in a series against Siena Heights the first weekend of the year. Mitch Hudvagner leads the team in batting at .400 overall and is followed by Taylor Grzelakowski (.364). On the mound, the Crusaders are led by Johnso Rodriguez who hurled six innings of scoreless baseball to pick up MU's lone win last weekend.
Looking ahead to Concordia
Head coach Zach Johnston and the Cardinals went 1-2 in their opening weekend at Indiana Tech but came back with a sweep of WHAC-newcomer Rochester to go above .500 at 4-3. In that 3-game sweep of the Warriors, Concordia outscored their visiting foes 29-7 as they have been led on offense by Jacob Maas who is batting .500 and Preston Sherman/Seth Hubbard who are at .400. On the bump, CUAA has a pair of wins from Jimmy McKane who has 12.0 innings pitched while boasting an ERA of 0.75.
New Look to the WHAC
The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference has several new looks as the new season begins. For the first time ever, fall baseball has come to the WHAC. Each member school will play three regular season three-game series which will count toward the year-end record. In addition, each conference series has been shortened from four games to three this year, but all three contests will be scheduled for nine innings. Finally, there are two new additions to WHAC baseball. Lawrence Tech is playing baseball on campus for the first time while Rochester (Mich.) joins the conference as an affiliate member for baseball only.
