KANSAS CITY, Mo. - - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced on Wednesday that Madonna junior Jeff Sonnenberg had been selected as the NAIA's National Pitcher of the Week for the week ending April 20th. This is the first national honor for Sonnenberg and the first for Madonna since 2005 when Derek Dufrane won the same honor. 

Sonnenberg (Lansing, Mich.) was selected after going 2-0 in two appearances last week. The junior right hander threw 5.2 innings of relief in a 9-6 MU win over Indiana Tech. He struck out five Warriors to pick up his first win of the week and followed that performance up with a nine strikeout performance in a no-hitter against Aquinas on Saturday. Sonnenberg carried a perfect game into the seventh inning before allowing two base runners on a walk and an error. For the week, Sonnenberg allowed just one walk in 12.2 innings of work and struck out nine batters, holding opponents to a .075 batting average.

The 25th-ranked Crusaders return to action on Friday, traveling to WHAC rival Concordia to start a four-game series. The series wraps up on Saturday with "Senior Day" for Madonna, also in a 1pm start.

Also, the scheduled MU/Rochester College double header slated for Wednesday has been changed to a single nine-inning contest and will now be played on Monday April 28th at 3pm.