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ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis baseball earned a 7-6 win over St. Francis (Ill.) on Tuesday (April 24) afternoon at Brennan Field. The game ended in walk-off fashion when senior Drew Buddle (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) laced a double off the right field wall with one out in the ninth inning to score junior Zach Stetson (Kankakee, Ill./Herscher) (Kankakee, Ill./Herscher). The hit gave Lewis their third walk-off victory of the season.
 
Stetson started the ninth with a pinch-hit single to center field. The senior has been clutch off the bench lately as he had a single that scored a pair of runs in a 3-2 win at Southern Indiana on Saturday.

“The whole ninth inning from an execution standpoint was tremendous,” Lewis head coach Tim McDonough said. “Zach gets the hit, Mike (Bolling) bunts him over and Drew is aggressive and gets a pitch over the plate and does a good job with it."
 
The dramatics came after Lewis found themselves down 5-0 following an inning and a half. Lewis cut it to a 5-2 game with a pair of runs in the second. Sophomore Kyle Kapka (Mount Prospect, Ill./Prospect) (Mount Prospect, Ill./Prospect) had a bizarre RBI triple in the frame. He hit what looked to be a hard hit single to the left fielder but it took a wild bounce over the head of the leaping left fielder. Kapka motored all the way to third on the play. Kapka then scored on an RBI single by sophomore Kyle Thomas (Homer Glen, Ill./Providence Catholic) (Homer Glen, Ill./Providence Catholic).
 
Lewis added a pair in the fourth off the bat of Thomas. This time it was a no-doubt two-run home run to right field that knocked in Kapka.
 
Lewis made it a 6-6 game with two runs in the fifth. Junior Michael Schroeder (Crown Point, Ind./North Newton) (Crown Point, Ind./North Newton/Triton) singled through the right side to knock in a pair with two outs.
 
It stayed 6-6 until Buddle's game winning hit in the ninth.
 
Buddle finished the contest with three hits. Schroeder, Kapka, Thomas and senior Andrew Brauer (Bolingbrook, Ill./Montini) (Bolingbrook, Ill./Montini/DuPage) each recorded two hits.
 
Sophomore Tom Durkin (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) threw the final three innings for Lewis to get the win and move his record to 4-2. He allowed just one hit and walked only one batter. Freshman Phil Warner (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) didn't allow a run in two innings. Lewis starter senior Jim Glasgow (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South/Joliet JC) got a no-decision after four innings of six run (two earned) pitching. Michael Chimera (2-2) took the loss for Saint Francis.

“The bullpen was really good today,” McDonough said. “Anytime you put up zeros from the fifth inning on it lets the offence focus on getting even instead of constantly chasing.”
 
The loss drops St. Francis to 31-13.
 
Lewis improves to 29-13. One more win for the Flyers will equal 30 on the season. Lewis hasn't won 30 games since recording a 34-26 record in 2000. The Flyers will try for that 30^th win this weekend when they host Bellarmine on Saturday and Sunday in doubleheaders at noon. Sunday is Senior Day for the Flyers.