LAWRENCE, Mass. – The Holy Cross baseball team headed north to take on Merrimack Tuesday evening and earned a 15-13 victory over the non-conference opponent at Greater Lawrence Tech.
Junior infielder
Ryan Grundy stayed hot for the Crusaders (10-16) extending his hitting streak to 10 games going 1-for-3 with a grand slam, five RBI, a run scored and two walks. Grundy has homered in two straight games and is hitting .400 (12-for-30) with five doubles, two homers, 15 RBI, six walks, eight runs scored and a stolen base during the hitting streak. Classmate
Colin Brown and sophomore
Nick Andersen also homered for Holy Cross. Andersen's tater was the first of his career.
Senior
CJ Egrie walked five times in the contest which tied for the NCAA and Patriot League single-game high in 2026. In 2026, he has 17 walks to eight strikeouts. Egrie was 0-for-1 with the five free passes to go with two steals to remain a perfect 25-for-25 on stolen base attempts this season. He is now tied for fifth place in Patriot League history with 77 stolen bases (Harold Earls, Army West Point (2012-15)).
Freshman outfielder
Lucas Ametrano made his first collegiate start and was 1-for-4 at the dish with his first career hit to go with two RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.
Brooks Craigue tallied four hits and three RBI for the Warriors (12-13).
STARTING ON THE MOUND:
- Sophomore Aidan Gilbert: (ND), 2.0 innings pitched, three hits allowed, two runs, zero walks, three strikeouts, 34 pitches
- Zach Broderick: (ND), 1.1 innings pitched, zero hits allowed, one run, three walks, two strikeouts, 35 pitches
OUT OF THE BULLPEN:
- Junior Thomas Skrobe: (W, 1-1), 1.1 innings pitched, two hits allowed, one run, one walk, four strikeouts, 36 pitches
- Junior Nick Harnisch: (S, 1), 1.2 innings pitched, one hit allowed, one run – zero earned, two walks, zero strikeouts, 23 pitches
- Louis Cespedes: (L, 0-2), 1.0 innings pitched, two hits allowed, five earned runs, six walks, zero strikeouts
STEPPING TO THE PLATE:
- Grundy: 1-for-3, grand slam, five RBI, run scored, two walks
- Brown: 2-for-3, home run, RBI, four runs scored
- Andersen: 1-for-3, home run, RBI, two runs scored, two walks
- Egrie: 0-for-1, three runs scored, two stolen bases, five walks
- Sophomore Simon Landry: 1-for-3, three RBI, run scored, three walks
- Craigue: 4-for-5, two doubles, three RBI, two runs scored, walk
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Egrie walked and stole a base while junior Braden Connors lifted a sacrifice fly to bring him in for the 1-0 lead in the first.
- Two singles resulted in two runs for Merrimack in the second as they led 2-1.
- Grundy flipped the score mashing a grand slam with one down in the third for the 5-2 Crusader lead.
- A two RBI double from Merrimack brought them within one, 5-4 in the third.
- Holy Cross added three in the fourth as Grundy's sacrifice fly expanded the lead to 8-4.
- Three from Merrimack brought them within one, 8-7 after four.
- Andersen's first career dinger with a Landry bases loaded walk increased the score to 10-7.
- A free pass and a hit by pitch dropped the Merrimack deficit to one, 10-9.
- Sophomore Brendan Gardner walked, Ametrano singled for a pair and Landry singled to expand the Crusader lead to 14-9 in the sixth.
- Matching runs for both squads including a Brown solo shot made it 15-11 in the top of the eighth.
- Merrimack threatened in the ninth scoring a run and loading the bases, but Harnish shut the door for the save.
POSTGAME THOUGHTS:
DUE UP:
- Holy Cross returns home to face Rhode Island (8-18, 4-5 A10) on Wednesday, April 1
- First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at the Ballpark at Fitton Field.
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