ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The Lewis University baseball team split a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference games against Bellarmine Saturday (April 6) at Brennan Field. The Flyers moved to 14-16 overall, 9-10 in the GLVC, while Bellarmine is 19-15, 10-9 in the GLVC. Connor Rutherford (DePere, Wis./DePere) had two of the 10 home runs between the two teams, while Brandon Post (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) went 6-for-10 on the day at the plate.

"Those were two very exciting college baseball games," Lewis baseball coach Tim McDonough said. "Unfortunately, we were only able to come away with one win but I loved how we competed and showed a lot of fight and toughness, especially in the way we came back in game one."

Game 1 - Lewis 10 Bellarmine 6
Every time the Knights scored, the Flyers answered in the bottom half of the inning in the contest. Bellarmine opened the scoring in the top of the second with a two-run home run from Tyler Neeley. Lewis answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning as Ryan Schefske (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) had a solo home run to center field and Austin Tittle (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) hit a solo home run to left field.

The Knights regained the lead at 3-2 in the fifth inning when Trevor Lines homered. Michael O'Brien (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic) gave the Flyers the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run home run to left field. A Post single to left center field in the seventh inning extended the Lewis lead to 5-3.

Bellarmine came back to take the lead in the eighth inning with three runs. But again Lewis would bounce back and this time took control of the game for good. Rutherford gave Lewis the lead back with a two-run homer to right center. A wild pitch then scored Anthony Rios (Lemont, Ill./St. Laurence) later in the inning. An O'Brien pop up to the shortstop in shallow left field was enough to score Dalton Crowder (Romeoville, Ill./Plainfield East) for a 9-6 advantage. Post finished off the scoring with a single to right field to score Tittle.

Post finished the game with three hits, while Rutherford, Schefske and Tittle (3 runs scored) had two each. O'Brien totaled three RBI. Pete Hamot (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) went 6.2 innings on the mount, allowing six hits and three earned runs, striking out eight. Robert Talarico (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West) earned the win, going 1.1 innings, allowing one hit and no runs.

Game 2 - Bellarmine 6 Lewis 5
The Flyers struck first in the opening inning as Schefske had a RBI single. Bellarmine scored twice in the second, including a home run by Chris Gambert to take a 2-1 lead. Lewis came back with two in the bottom of the second for a 3-2 lead as Post tripled down the right field line to score a run and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Anthony Cavalieri (Western Springs, Ill./Fenwick).

Rutherford made it 4-2 with his second home run of the day to right center field in the bottom of the fifth, but Gambert came back with his second homer of the game in the top of the sixth to make it 4-3.

That was the score in the ninth inning with one out when Bellarmine rallied to take the lead with a three-run home run from Zac Wiley. Lewis got a run back in the bottom of the ninth when Post singled up the middle to make it 6-5, but the Flyers stranded two runners on base to end the game.

Post tallied three more hits in the game two go with two runs and two RBI, while Schefske added a pair of hits. Blake Marks (Gardner, Ill./Gardner-South Wilmington) went six innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs, striking out seven.

"I was very pleased overall with our starting pitching," McDonough said. "Pete and Blake were excellent and we got great efforts from Talarico, Ryan Ward (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) and Jake Lotz (Palos Hills, Ill./St. Laurence) in game one. I thought Andrew Tenison (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) and Matt McCauley (Oakville, Mo./St. John Vianney) were fantastic in game two.

"Offensively, we are starting to click and are getting more production up and down the lineup. Brandon Post (Elk Grove Village, Ill./Elk Grove) continues to excel and be the catalyst."

The finale of the series is scheduled for Sunday (April 7) at 12 p.m.