ROYAL OAK, Mich. – Conference play got underway Friday (March 25) when Macomb Baseball traveled to Royal Oak's Memorial Park to take on the Mott Community College Bears in the MCCAA East opener for both teams. The league-opening day belonged to the Bears as the hosts won game one, 9-2, before taking the nightcap by a 10-0 final in five innings.
 
With Friday's losses, the Monarchs drop to 1-12 overall and 0-2 in the conference. The Bears moved to 4-6 overall and 2-0 in the MCCAA East with the pair of wins.

GAME ONE: Mott 9, Macomb 2
­Mott broke open game one with a six-run fifth inning to secure the 9-2 victory. The Monarchs trailed 2-1 in a tight game entering the bottom of the fifth before errors helped the Bears post six runs to take a commanding 8-1 lead.
Tom Burt (Clinton, Mich./Clinton), Jack Lyndrup (Macomb, Mich./L'Anse Creuse North) and Harrison Ryan (Macomb, Mich./L'Anse Creuse North) had two hits each for the Monarchs, while Jeremy Pudlik (Waterford, Mich./Waterford Mott) went 1-for-3 to round out the Blue & White's seven hits in the opener. Burt and Josh Medrano (Surprise, Az./Shadow Ridge) drove in a run each with Burt's coming on a hard single to center in the fourth and Medrano's on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.
 
GAME TWO: Mott 10, Macomb 0
Friday's latter game was unkind to the Monarchs as the Bears swept the day's action with a 10-0 win. The Monarchs had chances to plate runs early but couldn't cash in as the Bears led 6-0 after two and 8-0 after three innings of play in the five-inning affair.

Jeremy Pudlik continued his strong day at the plate with two hits in game two. Pudlik was followed by Jack Lyndrup and Josh Medrano with one hit each in the nightcap.