BELLEVILLE, Ill. – A pair of strong pitching performances helped the Lewis baseball team win a pair of games against McKendree, 4-2 and 7-2 Friday (March 30) in Great Lakes Valley Conference games at Whitey Herzog Field. The Flyers move to 9-14-1 on the year, 3-3 in the GLVC, while the Bearcats fall to 5-18, 1-5 in the GLVC.
 
Game one – Lewis 4, McKendree 2
Lewis rallied with three runs in the seventh and added another in the ninth in the 4-2 win. McKendree scored first with two runs in the fifth inning. But the Flyers stormed back in the top of the seventh. Connor Rutherford (DePere, Wis./DePere) led off with a single and Trayvon Johnson (Berkeley, Ill./St. Joseph's) and Ethan Bloom (Schaumburg, Ill./Hoffman Estates) both followed with walks to load the bases with no outs. Neal Tyrell (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) drove home the first run on a fielder's choice and then Johnson tied the game, scoring on a wild pitch. Anthony Rios (Lemont, Ill./St. Laurence) doubled down the left field line, scoring Tyrell, to give the Flyers the lead. Tyrell also scored the run in the ninth after a single and advanced a base during each of the next two at-bats and then scored on a wild pitch. After a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth for the Bearcats, Brady Kostecki (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic) retired the final three batters.
 
Pete Hamot (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) (3-2) picked up the win for the Flyers, going seven innings, scattering 11 hits, allowing two earned runs, while striking out 10. Kostecki earned the save, his fifth of the year, with the scoreless ninth inning. Rutherford and Tyrell each had two hits to lead the offense.
 
Game two – Lewis 7, McKendree 2
After leaving the bases loaded in the first, the Flyers got on the board in the second as Sam Cybulski (Clarendon Hills, Ill./Lyons Township) doubled to left center and Jermaine Terry (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South)'s single drove him home. The Bearcats scored a run in the bottom of the second to tie the game at one. Lewis regained the lead in the fourth, scoring three runs. After a walk and hit batter, Cybulski singled home a run and Terry added a second RBI single. Cybulski later scored on a wild pitch. The Flyers tallied a fifth run in the fifth as a Johnson walk, followed by singles from Tyrell and Troy Hajdukovic (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) loaded the bases for Cybulski, who hit a sacrifice fly to center field.
 
McKendree came back with a run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Flyers added two more in the seventh to put the game away. After a pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt, Rios had a RBI groundout, scoring Johnson. A passed ball moved Tyrell to third and then he scored on another base hit from Cybulski.
 
Cybulski went 3-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. Terry added a pair of hits and two RBI, while Johnson scored twice. Blake Marks (Gardner, Ill./Gardner-South Wilmington) (4-1) picked up the win, going five innings, striking out five and allowing seven hits and one earned run.
 
The two teams play another double header Saturday (March 31), with the first game scheduled for 12 p.m.