Quincy, Ill. – Lewis' baseball team completed its series sweep with an 8-1 win at No. 7 Quincy on Sunday afternoon at Quincy Stadium in Quincy, Ill. The Flyers improve to 25-21 overall and are 17-13 in the GLVC while the Hawks fall to 29-14 and 21-9 in the GLVC.
"Offensively we did just enough to support Brad (Littleton)," Lewis head baseball coach
Tim McDonough said. "You can never have enough runs so the run in the eighth was big and obviously (Connor) Rutherford's home run and (Matt) McCauley's grand slam was huge in putting the game away.
"Defensively we were really good all weekend and we can be a pretty good team when we don't make miscues in the field," McDonough said. "The game was won in the eighth when (Jake) Lotz got us the big double play ball and (Austin) Tittle and (Michael) O'Brien did a great job turning it."
Lewis struck first with single runs in the third and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth.
Quincy got a run back in the sixth on a sacrifice fly to center with runners on second and third and one out to cut the lead in half.
Brad Littleton (Coal City, Ill./) was able to get the final out of the inning on a fly ball to right.
The Hawks had a chance to tie the game in the seventh with runners on the corner but ran themselves out of the inning when Lance Logsdon tried to score on a passed ball and was tagged out at the plate. Littleton then struck out TJ Tamaccio to end the inning.
The Flyers tacked on an insurance run in the eighth on bases load walk to
Chris Zeschke (Oak Lawn, Ill./Richards) which forced in
Anthony Rios (Lemont, Ill./St. Laurence) to make it 3-1.
Quincy loaded the bases with one out in the eighth but
Jake Lotz (Palos Hills, Ill./St. Laurence) got Michael Nielsen to ground into a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning.
"The game was won in the eighth when Lotz got us the big double play ball and (Austin) Tittle and (Michael) O'Brien did a great job turning it," McDonough said.
Lewis tacked on some more runs in the ninth as
Connor Rutherford (DePere, Wis./DePere) hit a solo home run to right center with two outs in the inning and then with the bases loaded
Matt McCauley (Oakville, Mo./St. John Vianney) hit a grand slam to left to put the game out of reach.
The Flyers outhit the Hawks 8-5 in the contest and were led by Rios and Rutherford with two hits apiece. Littleton went seven strong innings giving up one unearned run on four hits with four strikeouts to improve to 4-2 on the season.
"Brad was outstanding and it was huge for him to give us seven strong innings," McDonough said. "He did a great job minimizing the damage in the sixth."
Lewis takes on crosstown rival St. Francis in a single game at 6 p.m. on Wednesday (May 1) at Joliet Route 66 Stadium.