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Jake Murray
Steve Woltmann

Baseball

Lewis Baseball Drops Season Opener Against Trevecca Nazarene, 5-2

Senior Jake Murray provided a spark with a solo home run in the fourth

Jake Murray's first home run of the season was a solo line drive to right field.
Box Score  / Box Score (pdf)

Nashville, Tenn. – The Lewis University baseball team found themselves behind as Trevecca Nazarene combined timely hitting with a Flyer error to put up a crooked number in the third inning and come away with a 5-2 win on Friday (Feb. 21) at Jackson Field in the TNU Alan Smith Classic.
 
The Flyers fall to 0-1 on the season as the Trojans improve to 5-2 on the year.
 
"Today was the first time we were outside," Lewis head baseball coach Tim McDonough said. "There was some rust but the effort and hustle was there."
 
"TNU hit the ball well," McDonough continued. "I have to give their starter; he kept us off balance and we didn't make the adjustments we needed."
 
Trevecca Nazarene got on the board first, plating a run in the bottom of the first inning. Lewis answered in the top of the second as senior Ben Albano (West Dundee, Ill./Jacobs) reached base on an error and advanced to second before junior Mike Barajas (Chicago, Ill./Nazareth) trotted to first after being hit by a pitch. They both moved into scoring position on a TNU wild pitch with senior Kyle Thomas (Homer Glen, Ill./Providence Catholic) at the dish. Thomas hit behind his runners to score Albano from third and even the score at 1-all.
 
The Trojans pushed away when they opened the third inning with back-to-back doubles. Both TNU runners scored on a Flyer error in the outfield, before tallying a third run on a ground ball double play to the right side of the infield to go up 4-1.
 
The Flyers got a spark in the fourth inning as senior Jake Murray (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) led off the inning with a solo line-drive home run over the right field wall to get within 4-2, but the Lewis bats were held silent once a runner got on the base paths.
 
TNU picked up a fifth run, connecting consecutive singles after a two-out Flyer miscue in the eighth inning.
 
Senior hurler Kendall Paluch (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic) pitched five innings, taking the loss as he allowed four runs, three earned, on nine hits while striking out three Trojan batters. Junior Dylan Cysewski (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) tossed two scoreless innings in relief as classmate Phil Warner (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) tossed the eighth, allowing an unearned run.
 
TNU's Bryan Smith improved to 1-1 on the year, as he threw 8.1 innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on three hits. Smith fanned nine Flyer batters as Mason Dunn picked up the last two outs for his first save of the season.
 
The Flyers return to Jackson Field on Saturday (Feb. 22) to take on Union in the TNU Alan Smith Classic. First pitch is set for 12 PM.
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