LIVONIA, Mich. - - The Madonna University baseball team hosted its First Pitch Banquet on Sunday, Jan. 31, with a record crowd of over 250 in attendance. The inaugural event featured legendary Detroit sportscaster Ray Lane as the master of ceremonies and former Philadelphia Phillie "Whiz Kid" and long time University of Detroit baseball coach Bob Miller as the special guest speaker.
The event, held at the Italian American Banquet and Conference Center, featured autographs from current Crusaders, a silent auction, as well as speeches from Director of Athletics Bryan Rizzo and Head Coach Greg Haeger.
"For our first event, I could not be more pleased with not only the way the event came off but how many people came out to support Madonna baseball," commented Haeger following the event. "I can not thank Coach Miller and Ray Lane enough for coming out today and entertaining us with some great baseball stories from both of their legendary careers. Also I would be remiss if I did not thank Paul Flavin and Bill Hardin for providing great assistance in helping to organize the banquet and coming up with the idea to start this event. I believe this can become an annual event that kicks off our baseball season each year. I want to thank everyone who donated their time or items for the silent auction. We had such an amazing range of items for people to bid on and help raise funds for the baseball program."
The Crusaders take to the field in a little less than three weeks, making the trek to San Diego, Calif., to open the season on Feb. 18 against San Diego Christian.
Contact: Patrick Moore (734) 432-5834