The Aquinas baseball team has seen its share of ups and downs this spring.

This past week the Saints traveled to Adrian, Mich. and took on conference opponent Siena Heights (8-14, 10-24).

AQ split the two games on Monday losing the first game 5-2 and winning the second 3-0 behind the pitching of Michael Giddings, who threw a complete game shut out allowing just one hit and striking out five.

On April 15, Siena came to Grand Rapids for another double header at Kimble Stadium.

On this day Siena Heights got the best of the Saints, winning both games 7-2 and 8-2 respectively.

After losing three out of four conference games in just two days the Saints season looked to be in jeopardy.

However, the team was able to bounce back.

The Saints defeated non-conference foe Rochester College the very next day.

In the first game the Saints were led by freshmen left fielder Kennen Less who went 2-for-4 in the game with two RBIs. Junior third baseman Paul Nieves went 2-for-3 with a two-run homerun and freshmen Jake VanderKolk hit a three-run walk-off homerun to seal the 11-1 victory.

In the second game the Saints kept it hot with an 8-1 win led by center fielder Chris Atkin who went 2-for-3 with four RBIs and two runs scored.

“These were much needed wins for us. We need to get hot and finish the
regular season strong,” said Less.

Although the wins over Rochester won’t affect the conference standings, they move the Saints record to 14-23 overall.

More importantly for the team, the wins over Rochester give the team some much needed momentum as they head for the daunting conference schedule.

“All of our upcoming conference games are huge for us,” Less said.

The Saints take on conference rival Madonna this weekend.

They look to finish the season strong on April 25 and 26 against Indiana Tech.

The WHAC Tournament begins May 1, times have not yet been announced.