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EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Lewis opened the 2012 Great Lakes Valley Conference Baseball Tournament with a convincing 8-2 victory over No. 17 Indianapolis on Thursday (May 10) afternoon at Bosse Field.
 
The No. 8 seeded Flyers drew a tough draw in the tournament opener, facing top seed Indianapolis and GLVC Pitcher of the Year Donovan Drake. Lewis stepped up to the challenge immediately, scoring four runs off Drake in the top of the first.
 
“You could sense the energy in the dugout from when we got here to before the game, the guys were ready to play,” Lewis head coach Tim McDonough said. “The guys had a great approach at the plate early and kept it all day long.”
 
Lewis leadoff man Mike Bolling (Chicago, Ill./Guerin Prep) (Chicago, Ill./Guerin Prep/Triton) hit an 0-2 double to left field to start the game. From there Lewis recorded three more hits and benefited from an Indianapolis error. Sophomore Ben Albano (West Dundee, Ill./Jacobs) (West Dundee, Ill./Jacobs), sophomore Michael Schroeder (Crown Point, Ind./North Newton) (Crown Point, Ind./North Newton/Triton) and sophomore Kyle Kapka (Mount Prospect, Ill./Prospect) (Mount Prospect, Ill./Prospect) each had an RBI in the frame. Schroeder scored Lewis' fourth run on a two-out balk by Drake.
 
Lewis added another in the second on a two-out RBI single by Albano. The Flyers added another run in the fifth and then two runs in the sixth on a two-RBI double by Kapka. The sophomore fouled off several pitches before finding the left center gap.
 
On the flip side, sophomore starter Tom Helwich (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way Central) (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln Way Central) was dealing. Helwich would finish with a 9.0 inning complete game victory. He allowed just two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out nine Greyhounds. Helwich improves to 7-1 on the season. Drake (7-2) took the loss for the Greyhounds after allowing five runs in four innings. Drake shutout Lewis on April 6 when the Flyers and Greyhounds met during the regular season.
 
“As great as Tommy was, the rhythm and tempo to what we were doing on defense was great,” McDonough said. “We made plays, didn't make any errors and there were no long innings.”
 
Kapka finished with three RBI and three hits. Albano had three hits, two RBI and scored twice. The Flyers out-hit the Greyhounds 15-5 and didn't commit a single error while the Greyhounds had three miscues.

Lewis improves to 33-18. The Greyhounds fall to 37-14.
 
The win advances Lewis to the second day of the GLVC Tournament. The Flyers will play No. 4 Rockhurst on Friday at 11 a.m. The Hawks defeated Quincy 3-1 in the day's first contest. Lewis split a doubleheader with Rockhurst on March 17.