KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Lewis baseball hit the road on Friday (March 11) for a doubleheader at Truman State. While the Bulldogs are a fellow Great Lakes Valley Conference school, the contests were non-league games for the Flyers. Being non-conference, it allowed the two clubs to play a pair of seven inning games. Lewis fell in the opener 7-5, and won the second 6-3.

"We played pretty well today," Lewis head coach Tim McDonough said. "I thought our hitters were locked in all day."

Game One – Truman State 7, Lewis 5 (HTML Box | PDF Box)
All of Lewis' scoring in the opener came in the first two innings. The Flyers started the first with a pair of runs, including an RBI by sophomore Ethan Bloom (Schaumburg, Ill./Hoffman Estates). In the third, junior Austin Schultz (Greensburg, Ind./Greensburg) opened the inning with a solo shot to left center field. Senior Chris Pikoulas (Frankfort, Ill./Carl Sandburg) came up two batters later and homered to left field.

The Flyers took a 5-3 lead to the fifth when the game changed with one swing of the bat. Truman State's Adam Gregorich hit a two-out, 3-2 pitch over the wall for a grand slam. It put the Bulldogs up by the final score of 7-5.

Freshman Robert Talarico (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West) surrendered the home run in relief to earn the loss. He is now 0-1. Mark Robets received the win for TSU. He is now 2-1. Peter Young pitched a clean inning for his third save of the season for Truman State.

"Talarico was great in both games," McDonough said. "He just made one pitch that their hitter did a great job with."

Freshman Pete Hamot (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) threw four plus innings, picking up a no decision.

"Hamot settled down after the first and really did a nice job," McDonough said.

Bloom, Schultz and sophomore Neal Tyrell (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) each had two hits in the game.

Game Two – Lewis 6, Truman State 3 (HTML Box | PDF Box)
The Flyers offense produced early runs in the nightcap, as well. Lewis put up a three spot in the first inning thanks to three-run shot by senior Kurt Becker (Palatine, Ill./Palatine).

"Kurt's blast to give us an early lead in game two was huge," McDonough said.

It was a 3-2 game in the fifth when the Flyers manufactured a run. Tyrell singled with two outs, stole second and then came around on a Bloom single. A pair of insurance runs in seventh made the final 6-3.

Sophomore Dalton Hottle (Monmouth, Ill./Monmouth-Roseville) allowed three runs (one earned) in 4.0 innings to move his record to 2-0. The Lewis bullpen was lights out from there. Senior Phil Warner (South Elgin, Ill./St. Charles North) threw the final 1.1 innings to pick up his second save of the year.

"It was good to see Dalton bounce back with a solid performance today," McDonough said.

Tyrell had three more hits in game two. He is hitting .500 with 21 hits over Lewis' first 10 games.

Lewis is now 5-5. Truman State is 6-7. The Flyers and Bulldogs will play games three and four of the series on Saturday at noon.