ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis' baseball team split its doubleheader winning the opener 4-1 and dropping the nightcap 4-2 on Wednesday at Simmons Field in Kenosha, Wis. The Flyers are 22-21 on the season while the Rangers are 8-28.
Game 1 – Lewis 4 Parkside 1
Lewis got on the board first thanks to solo home run to left of the bat off
Austin Tittle (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) in the second inning. The Flyers added to their lead with an unearned run in the fifth on
Anthony Rios's (Lemont, Ill./St. Laurence) sacrifice fly to right to bring home
Brandon Post (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove).
Parkside cut the lead in half with a run in the sixth on Ryan Hollander's RBI single which plated Justin Bennett.
Lewis tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the seven on
Ryan Schefske's (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) two-run shot to left for his team leading 10th home run of the season.
Five different Flyers had a hit in the contest.
Kurt Dankovich (Homer Glen, Ill./Providence) picked up the win allowing no runs on three hits with a strikeout in five innings pitched.
"Dank was outstanding in game one," Lewis head baseball coach
Tim McDonough said. "He's come a long way from his injury so it was great to see him pitch well and get a win in his first college start.
"We did just offensively to support the great pitching performance and Schef's blast gave us a little cushion."
Game 2 – Parkside 4 Lewis 2
Lewis outhit the Rangers in the nightcap but left six runners on base in the contest. Parkside did all of its damage in the fourth inning scoring all four of its runs on one hit. Those four runs came on one swing as Kurt Mlachnik hit a grand slam to left.
The Flyers scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to cut the Parkside lead in half. Post drove in
Eric Lucchesi (Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech) with a groundout to first in the fifth and
Matt McCauley (Oakville, Mo./St. John Vianney) drove in
Connor Rutherford (DePere, Wis./DePere) with an infield single in the sixth. Lewis had the tying runs on base in the sixth but were left stranded.
Post and McCauley had two hits apiece in the nightcap to lead the Flyers.
Nick Bacarella (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove North) suffered the defeat allowing four runs on three hits with three walks and four strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched.
"One swing of the bat was the difference in game two and you to credit Parkside for getting the big hit when they needed it," McDonough said. "We had some base runners but we couldn't come up with quality at bats with runners in scoring position.
"I thought Nick threw well overall," he continued. "I probably left him in a batter or two too long but for his first college start I thought he competed well."
Lewis continues its nine game roadtrip on Saturday traveling to Quincy to take on the Hawks in a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.
