April 23, 2009

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

CHICAGO - Sophomore Mike Vucsko (Evergreen Park, Ill./Marist) had three RBI, two hits and two runs scored in game two, but the Flyers fell 7-0 and 10-9 in eight innings in a pair of non-conference games at Saint Xavier on Thursday afternoon.

Game two could best be described as a thriller. Unfortunately for the Flyers it was one that didn't go their way. The Flyers took the lead with a run in the third. Vucsko walked, stole second, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by senior Chris McCall (River Forest, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest/College of DuPage CC).

The Cougars scored two in the bottom of the third. The Flyers tallied three in the fourth to take the lead back at 4-2. Senior Tim Bingham (Plainfield, Ill./Westland, Mi./John Glenn) led the inning off with his sixth home run of the season. Vucsko tripled with two outs to score freshman Ryan Wischhover (Palos Heights, Ill./Brother Rice) and sophomore Vincent Campagna (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett).

However four Cougars runs in the bottom half of the inning gave Saint Xavier a 6-4 lead. Lewis made it a one run game with another Vucsko RBI in the top of the sixth. In the seventh Wischhover gave the Flyers the lead with a key two RBI double that scored junior Scott Householder (Berwyn, Ill./St. Josephs/Triton) and Bingham.

Lewis reliever had junior Ted Bartnik (Diamond, Ill./Coal City/Illinois Valley CC) blanked the Cougars in the fifth and sixth and retired the first two batters of the seventh when a great outing went south. Only an out away from a comeback victory, Saint Xavier's Brett Ratajczak tied it up with a home run.

Lewis came right back in extras though, scoring two in the eighth. Junior Ryan McManaman (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) walked and scored on an error by the Cougars' first baseman. Sophomore Richard Forkin (Orland Park, Ill./Lockport) then singled in Vucsko to give Lewis a 9-7 lead.

However in the bottom half of the eighth all five Cougars reached base as they put a quick three runs on the board to take the game.

Freshman Pat Lahey (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) took the loss due to the deflating eighth inning. His record falls to 2-7.

Game one wasn't as close. Saint Xavier had just seven hits, just one more than Lewis, but benefited from two Lewis errors and five walks. Freshman Don Cizek (LaGrange Park, Ill./Lyons) took the loss and is now 1-4. McCall had three hits in the game for the Flyers.

Saint Xavier improves to 32-11. Lewis falls to 16-26. The Flyers return to conference play this weekend with doubleheaders against St. Joseph's at Brennan Field on Saturday and Sunday at noon. Senior Day is set for Sunday.