EVANSVILLE, Ind. – A pair of close games went against the Lewis baseball team Friday (April 6) as it fell to Southern Indiana 12-11 and 6-5 in Great Lakes Valley Conference games at USI Baseball Field. Lewis is now 10-16-1 overall, 4-5 in GLVC, while USI is 14-13 overall, 6-4 in GLVC. The two teams will play two more games Saturday (April 7) at 1 p.m.
 
Game one – USI 12, Lewis 11
Southern Indiana picked up a run in the bottom of the first before Lewis scored seven unanswered. The Flyers scored twice in the fourth inning as Neal Tyrell (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) doubled to score Trayvon Johnson (Berkeley, Ill./St. Joseph's), who previously doubled. After an Anthony Rios (Lemont, Ill./St. Laurence) single, Sam Cybulski (Clarendon Hills, Ill./Lyons Township) hit a sacrifice fly to left center to score Tyrell. Both Johnson and Tyrell scored again in the fifth inning on RBI from Austin Tittle (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) and Rios to make it 4-1.
 
A leadoff double in the sixth from Jermaine Terry (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) led to three more runs. Terry scored on a RBI from Connor Rutherford (DePere, Wis./DePere), Brandon Post (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) scored when Johnson reached on a fielding error and Rutherford scored on a Tyrell single. The Screaming Eagles mounted their comeback starting in the bottom of the sixth, scoring two runs and then added six more in the seventh to take a 9-7 lead. The Flyers came back with four runs in the top of the eighth as Johnson singled to score Anthony Cavalieri (Western Springs, Ill./Fenwick) and Rios doubled to score Johnson and Rutherford. A bunt single by Cybulski scored Tyrell to give Lewis an 11-9 lead. USI scored three times in the eighth and overcame a leadoff walk in the ninth to win the game.
 
Cavalieri went 4-for-5 for the Flyers, while Tyrell and Johnson each had three hits, scored three runs and had two RBI. Rios also had three hits to go along with three RBI, while Johnson tallied a pair of doubles. Nick Gobert (3-2) earned the win for USI, while Matt McCauley (Oakville, Mo./St. John Vianney) (1-1) took the loss for Lewis.
 
Game two – USI 6, Lewis 5
The Screaming Eagles again jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning and again Lewis came back to take the lead, this time with two runs in the third inning. On the ninth pitch of the at bat with the bases loaded, Tyrell singled, scoring two runs. However, USI responded with four runs in the bottom of the third to take a 5-2 lead. The Flyers scored two more in the fourth as Cavalieri hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Tittle. Johnson then walked with the bases loaded to score the second run. A Johnson strikeout in the sixth led to a tie game as he reached first on a wild pitch and Terry scored. USI won the game with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Rutherford went 2-for-3 in the contest and reached base three times in the game, while Tyrell had a pair of RBI. Tyler Hagedorn (2-2) got the win for USI, while Blake Marks (Gardner, Ill./Gardner-South Wilmington) (4-2) picked up the loss, going 6.1 innings, allowing seven hits and six runs, with none of the runs being earned.