INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Lewis University baseball team split a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference baseball games with Indianapolis Tuesday (March 19) at Greyhound Park, winning the opener 10-3 and dropping the finale 7-4. Lewis moves to 8-10 on the season, 3-5 in the GLVC, while the Greyhounds are now 11-8, 4-4.

"We played much better today and its disappointing to come back with a split," Lewis baseball coach Tim McDonough said. "Really, it was one inning that got us but sometimes that is all that it takes in this league."

Game 1 Lewis 10 Indianapolis 3
The Flyers got on the board in the top half of the first with an Anthony Cavalieri (Western Springs, Ill./Fenwick) sacrifice fly. Indianapolis responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning on a home run and a single to take a 2-1 lead. Lewis came right back to even the score in the second when Connor Rutherford (DePere, Wis./DePere) walked with the bases loaded.

UINDY retook the lead in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly for the 3-2 lead, but the Flyers were able to silence the hosts bats from there. Lewis took control of the game in the sixth inning when Brandon Post (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) reached on an error, which led to two runs scoring, giving Lewis its first lead of the game. Andrew Tenison (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) added to the lead with a RBI single for a 7-3 advantage later in the inning.

The Flyers added three more runs in the eighth inning. Tenison drove home a run on a fielder's choice. That was followed by a Matt McCauley (Oakville, Mo./St. John Vianney) RBI single to right field and a Dalton Crowder (Romeoville, Ill./Plainfield East) RBI single finished off the scoring.

Lewis finished the game with 13 hits as Rutherford, Ryan Schefske (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East), Tenison (double), McCauley and Crowder had two each. Chris Zeschke (Oak Lawn, Ill./Richards) recorded a double and Brandon Post (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) had a triple in the contest. On the mound Matt Verdun (Homer Glen, Ill./St. Rita) (1-1) earned the win, going five innings, allowing seven hits and three earned runs. Bailey Buescher (0-1) picked up the loss.

Game 2 Indianapolis 7 Lewis 4
The Flyers struck first again in the second game, scoring twice in the first inning. Schefske drove home the first run with a single, while Tenison drove home a run on a groundout.

After a Greyhound home run tied the game at 2-2 in the third, Lewis regained a two-run lead in the sixth when Post reached on an error, which led to two runs scoring. Indianapolis got those two runs back in the seventh on a two-run single and added three runs in the eighth to earn the series split.

Indianapolis outhit the Flyers 12-7 for the contest as the Flyers scattered their hits among seven different batters and were all singles. Matt Rearick (1-1) had the win for Indianapolis in relief after 1.1 innings of shutout work, while Robert Talarico (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West) (1-1) took the loss for Lewis. Ryan Ward (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) earned the start for the Flyers and went five innings, allowing three hits and two earned runs.

"Matt Verdun (Homer Glen, Ill./St. Rita) and Ryan Ward (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) both gave us solid starts and Mike Stevens (Homer Glen, Ill.) was fantastic out of the bullpen," McDonough said. "Offensively we were really clicking in game one up and down the lineup. Game two we battled but we just couldn't come up with any add on runs once we took the lead."

The Flyers continue on the road in the GLVC when they travel to Missouri S&T for a three-game serie, which begins Saturday (March 23) at 12 p.m.