Caden Durdan’s first at-bat Monday was a little strange.

When the Marquette junior went to bat for the first time, his team held a two-run lead over Marmion in the top of the first inning, but a caught stealing during the at-bat ended the inning.

By the end of Durdan’s at-bat, it was the second inning, and the two-run lead had turned into a two-run deficit. And while he would ground out in his first at-bat, it flipped a switch.

“I just knew I had to go out there and play the best that I can,” Durdan said. “Didn’t want them to get too far ahead.”

Durdan would end the game going 3 for 4 at the plate while driving in five runs to help the Crusaders come from behind to secure a 12-5 victory over the Cadets.

“That was good to see from him,” Crusaders coach Todd Hopkins said. “He’s just as steady as can be. He had a couple big hits for us and made some nice plays in the field as well.”

The Crusaders (7-0), who secured their 25th victory in a row dating back to last season, ended up taking the lead for good in the third inning after putting up five runs in the frame. Anthony Couch tied the game with a two-run single, Jaxsen Higgins gave them a lead with a sacrifice fly, and Durdan added insurance with a two-run single to make it 7-4.

“So far we’ve just been hitting the ball so well,” Hopkins said. “We know we’re not going to continue doing that, it’s just not the norm. But we’ve just got to keep plugging away, playing defense and pitching, and they’ll keep us in ball games.”

Higgins picked up his third RBI on an infield single in the fourth inning before Durdan followed up with his second two-run single. The junior put up his fifth RBI in the sixth inning on another RBI single.

“Coach wanted us to hit the fastball,” Durdan said. “He just wanted to get the team hitting again. We didn’t play our best in our last game, so it was good to come out and hit again.”

The Cadets (0-4) took the momentum out of the first frame. Marmion had each of its first three batters get on base before Luke Young and Alex Saling hit back-to-back two-run singles to give them a 4-2 lead. It was the first runs the Cadets had scored all season.

“To put a few runs on the board was good to see,” Cadets coach Aaron Nieckula said. “It was an opening that I hope we can build off of. I thought we had a better offensive approach, but we’ve just got to keep going up with a better approach and find ways to get on base.”

The Crusaders settled in at the mound after the first inning. Couch allowed two hits and one run in his final two innings of work, Easton Debernardi allowed a hit and three walks over three-plus innings before Alec Novotney struck out the side to close the game.

“Give Marmion credit, they hit the ball in the first inning and took advantage of things,” Hopkins said. “Anthony settled down and got his breaking ball and got ahead in the count. Debernardi came in and threw decent with some velocity, and then Alec just does his thing.”

Saling and Ethan Burhans led the team with two hits apiece, while Matthew Tulley added an RBI single in the fifth inning. The Cadets also added seven walks along with four fielding errors.

“I mean, when it rains it pours,” Neickula said. “At this point, we’re 0-4, the record is what it is, it’s just the way in which we’re losing. We’re not taking advantage of opportunities when hitting and we’re not making the routine plays. There’s been certain things that we’ve been trying to tighten up, it’s just not clicking for us right now.”