Box Score Seeking to put yesterday's losses behind the John Carroll University baseball team looked to get back on track against a key regional opponent in Adrian College.

The two teams battled early before the Bulldogs pulled ahead to take the 8-1 decision at North Regional Park in Port Charlotte, Fla.

The Blue Streaks struck first in the top of the second stringing together three straight hard hits. Chet Lauer led off the inning finding the hole and the right side of the infield and advanced to third when David Crowley's line drive up the middle on the hit-and-run sent the field umpire diving for cover. David Lykens blasted a ground rule double to bring in the game's first run. A walk by Robby Cifelli would load the bases but one run was all JCU could trot across the plate.

The Bulldogs would strike right back to tie the game in the bottom of the frame. Dan Heatherly would lead off with a double and would come in to score on Ben Yax's 2-out single.

Adrian added two runs in the fourth inning to open up the 3-1 lead. R.J. Rios led off the inning with a single and would score Drew Shutes' 1-out double. Shutes would score on Yax's second RBI single of the contest.

John Carroll threatened in the six inning but could not get on the board. Mitchell Herringshaw led off the inning by being hit by a pitch for the fourth time in the last three games. Lauer laced a hit just inside the foul line down the leftfield line to give JCU two runners with one out. The Blue and Gold were poised to strike by Crowley blasted a liner which was snagged by Adrian's Rylie Robinson. With nowhere to go Herringshaw was doubled up on the play for the Bulldogs' third double play of the day.

Looking to put some breathing room between itself and John Carroll Adrian's Zach Kolvey and Shutes crushed back-to-back homers in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it a 5-1 lead. The Bulldogs would tack on three more runs in the seventh inning to break the game open.

John Carroll fell to 2-5 on the young season while Adrian evened its record at 1-1.

Mark Materise took the loss to fall to 1-1 on the season. The freshman righty scattered seven hits and gave up five runs over 5.2 innings of work.

The Blue Streaks received production at the plate from the middle of their lineup as Lauer (three), Crowley and Lykens all finished with multiple hits on the afternoon.

"Those guys saw it (the pitches) well," said head coach Marc Thibeault. "Their pitcher did a really good job of throwing some quality off-speed pitches for strikes. Those guys are established hitters and they've been around the block a couple of times. They strung together some good, pretty competitive at bats."

John Carroll will have a day off on Wednesday before taking on Scranton at noon on Thursday at the Player Development Complex in Ft. Myers, Fla.