April 10, 2009
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The temperature was cold on Friday afternoon at Brennan Field and so were the Flyers' bats as Kentucky Wesleyan swept a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader from Lewis 3-2 and 1-0.
Kentucky Wesleyan scored one in the first of game one to take an early lead.
The Panthers next threat came in the top of the fifth when they put runners at second and third with one out. However starter freshman Pat Lahey (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) worked two ground balls to get out of trouble with no Panthers crossing the plate.
The Flyers tied it up with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Junior Michael Fedoruk (Norridge, Ill./Notre Dame H.S.) doubled with one out and advanced to third on a ground ball to the second baseman by freshman Ryan Wischhover (Palos Heights, Ill./Brother Rice). A wild pitch brought Fedoruk in to knot the game at one.
Two Kentucky Wesleyan runs in the top of the eighth made it a 3-1 game. In the bottom half of the inning Lewis cut their deficit in half with a sacrifice fly by senior Tim Bingham (Plainfield, Ill./Westland, Mi./John Glenn) that scored sophomore Mike Vuckso (Evergreen Park, Ill./Marist) who led the inning off with a double.
Lewis put two men on with two outs in the ninth but couldn't push across the tying run.
Lahey pitched well despite earning the loss. He allowed two earned runs in 7.1 innings, walking just one batter and striking out six.
It was a similar story in game two, with junior Joe Scumaci (Chicago, Ill./St. Laurence/Triton) being the tough luck loser. He gave up six hits and a walk in seven innings, allowing just a lone run in the first inning.
"The pitchers threw well today," head coach Tim McDonough said. "We certainly didn't lose the games because of them."
The Flyers were never able to get anything going offensively. Their best threat came in the fifth when Lewis put together back-to-back singles with one out. However the next two batters couldn't get on base and the Flyers failed to threaten the rest of the game.
Senior Jeffrey Ithal (Alsip, Ill./Shepard/MacMurray College) had two of the Flyers' four hits in game two, including one in the fifth and one in the ninth.
"We got out executed and out coached today," McDonough said.
Kentucky Wesleyan improves to 9-28 (5-13 GLVC). Lewis falls to 14-18 (2-11 GLVC). The Flyers host Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday in a doubleheader at noon.
