Box Score /
Box Score (pdf)Romeoville, Ill. – The Lewis University baseball team had four different Flyers collect two hits, led by junior
Jared Pyatt (Pekin, Ill./Pekin) with two hits and three RBI, as they defeated Saint Xavier 7-2 in a non-conference match-up on Tuesday (April 8) at Brennan Field.
The Flyers improve to 16-14 on the year while the Cougars fall to 12-17 on the season.
"We did all three facets of the game well today," Lewis head baseball coach
Tim McDonough said. "We executed offensively and got the run game going."
"We defended extremely well and throwing a lot of guys out there today, our pitchers didn't give them too many free bases," McDonough said. "When you have those ingredients, it shapes up for a pretty good result."
The Flyers got on the board in the third inning as Pyatt doubled in junior
Mark Kornacker (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) and senior
J.C. Burrell (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) to take a 2-0 lead.
Lewis added to their lead in the fourth inning when sophomore
Joel Rotkvich (Crestwood, Ill./St. Laurence) stole home after freshman
Josh Walinski (Wauconda, Ill./Carmel) stole second base and drew the throw from Saint Xavier's catcher Casey Papp.
Saint Xavier got on the board in the sixth inning when Bryan Polak hit a two-run home run to right field off of senior pitcher
Kegan Banks (Dripping Springs, Texas/Dripping Springs), to get within 3-2.
The Flyers quickly pushed their lead back to a comfortable three runs in the bottom of the sixth, up 5-2. Walinski singled to score junior
Kelton Zimmerman (Glen Ellyn, Ill./St. Francis) from second. Kornacker hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Walinksi from third base for the Flyers second run of the inning.
Lewis picked up a run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly to center field by senior
Marshall Escue (Washington, Ill./Washington Community). Burrell broke up a potential inning-ending double play in the eighth inning that allowed junior
Kane Lombardo (Forest Park, Ill./Nazareth) score and put the Flyers up by a score of 7-2.
Lewis junior
Dylan Cysewski (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake Central) picked up the win, throwing two innings out of the bullpen. Cysewski (2-1) struck out two as he retired all six batters he faced.
Saint Xavier starter Dan Maton (0-2) was credited with the loss, giving up two runs on three hits in three innings of work. Maton also struck out two and walked two.
The Flyers return to Great Lakes Valley Conference action on Friday (April 11) when they host Illinois Springfield. The first game of the Friday doubleheader is set to start at 3 PM at Brennan Field.
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