DETROIT -- The Wayne State University baseball team (32-9 overall, 15-6 GLIAC) made it look easy on Friday afternoon in a 14-0 series-opening victory against Purdue Northwest (14-20 overall, 6-11 GLIAC) at Harwell Field.  The two teams will continue their series with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.

Not only did Wayne State record its first shutout of the season, but did so with a 14-run lead, something the program hadn't done since winning 14-0 at Lewis on May 7, 2022.  In fact, the Warriors hadn't claimed a shutout victory with a margin of at least 14 at home since a 15-0 defeat of Saginaw Valley State on March 30, 2014.

Friday against PNW, WSU racked up its 14 scores on 18 hits, 11 of which went for extra bases, while those 18 hits were spread out amongst 10 different batters.  Of those 10, six registered multi-hit performances -- Bennett Hitzelberger (Richmond, Mich.) at 3-for-4, Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.) at 3-for-5, Brady Blakita (Canton, Mich. / Detroit Catholic Central) at 2-for-4, Drew Hill (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) at 2-for-4, and Caleb Sanders (Eastpointe, Mich. / Detroit Edison Public School Academy [Dayton]) at 2-for-4.

When it came to the long ball, Owen Tuccinardi (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Skyline) and Hitzelberger hit back-to-back sole home runs in the third inning before Ty Garza (Grosse Ile, Mich. [Barton College]) followed suit with a three-run blast in the seventh.  For Hitzelberger and Garza, those shots marked their seventh and fourth of the season, respectively. 

Meanwhile, Tuccinardi moved into the team lead with 10 and became the first Green and Gold slugger with more than nine in a single campaign since Hunter DeLanoy finished 2022 with 11 of them.  The single season program record of 13 was set by Paul LeMantia in 2010.

On the mound, Will Lowery (Grosse Ile, Mich. [Kalamazoo Valley C.C.]) was sensational following seven innings pitched on 89 pitches.  Lowery worked around seven hits without a single walk to his name and four strikeouts.

Oscar Pace (Brighton, Mich. / Hartland) then came in to close the door with two frames of work on 30 pitches.  Pace allowed three hits without a free pass and two punchouts.