ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's baseball team swept its doubleheader against McKendree on Friday afternoon at Brennan Field to extend its winning streak to a season-high five games. The Flyers improve to 11-8 overall and 9-6 in the GLVC while the Bearcats drop to 10-9, 3-8 GLVC.

"I thought we had all four phases (pitching, hitting, defense and base running) of the game working today and that's a good recipe for success," Lewis head baseball coach Tim McDonough said.

Game 1 – Lewis 5, McKendree 4
Lewis used small ball to jump on top with a run in the second inning. The Flyers pulled off a double steal as Patrick Keaty (South Elgin, Ill./South Elgin) stole second and Julian Everett (Frankfort, Ill/Lincoln Way East) stole home with two outs in the inning to put Lewis up 1-0.

McKendree answered back with two runs in the third. Bryce Emery drove in the tying run with a double down the right field line that scored Connor McCormick and sent Ryan Hutchinson to third. Joe Costanzo bunted it back to Jake Karaba (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) who tried to throw out Hutchinson at the plate, but the throw was high and got away from Anthony Rios (Lemont, Ill./St. Laurence) which allowed Hutchinson to score. Karaba avoided further damage as he got Corey Price to ground into an inning ending double play.

The Flyers responded with two runs in their half of the third. With one out, Jackson Dvorak (New Lenox, Ill./Providence Catholic) doubled to left center and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Dvorak scored on a grounder off the bat of Everett to first as Jordan Richardson tried to throw out Dvorak at the plate, but his throw was late and low and got past McCormick which allowed Everett to move to second. Later in the inning, Kevin Barry (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) singled through the right side of the infield to score Everett.

The back-and-forth action continued in the fourth as the Bearcats scored twice on JP Kehoe's single back up the middle scoring Richardson and Joseph Copeland.

Lewis had one more answer though scoring two runs in the fourth. With runners at first and second, Rios hit a bouncer to second that got past the second baseman and went into shallow center field which allowed Keaty to score and sent Michael O'Brien (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic) to third. O'Brien scored what proved to be the winning run on a wild pitch. Rios tried to score later in the inning on a wild pitch but was thrown out at the plate.

After a couple of rough innings, Karaba settled down over the final three frames retiring nine of the final 10 hitters he faced with a pair of strikeouts.

"Jake was efficient in game one and it was great to see him finish it," McDonough said.

The Flyers outhit the Bearcats 5-4 in the contest and were led by Joe Preusser (Orland Park, Ill./Brother Rice) with two hits. Karaba pitched a complete game allowing four runs, one earned, on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks to improve to 3-0 on the season.

"Offensively we battled and had good at-bats throughout the day and I like where we are from an approach standpoint," McDonough stated.

Game 2 – Lewis 9 McKendree 3
Lewis scored in every inning but the third in the nightcap. Dvorak drove in Rios with the first run with a single to left and a fielding error by the left fielder with two out in the first.

The Flyers extended the lead to 3-0 with two runs in the second inning. Keaty drove in Barry with a groundout to short and Troy Hajdukovic (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) scored on a wild pitch.
McKendree tied the score scoring three runs on three hits in the third. Copeland had the big hit in the inning hitting a two-run double to left center to tie the game.

Lewis regained the lead in the fourth. With one out, Preusser was hit by a pitch, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. O'Brien drove him in with a single through the left side of the infield to make it 4-3. O'Brien would score on Dvorak's double down the left field line to make it 5-3 and Dvorak scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 6-3.

The Flyers added an insurance run in the fifth as Hajdukovic scored on Keaty's single through the left side of the infield.

Lewis scored its final two runs in the sixth as Julian Everett (Frankfort, Ill/Lincoln Way East) doubled to left center to score Dvorak and Everett scored later in the later in the inning on Barry's double to left center.

The Flyers outhit the Bearcats 8-4 in the second game with O'Brien and Dvorak accounting for half of those hits. Michael Sclafani (Oak Brook, Ill./Montini Catholic) got the start in the game and went the first four innings allowing three runs on three hits with seven strikeouts and a walk to get the win and improve to 2-0. Tyler Talbot (Channahon, Ill./Minooka) pitched the final three innings retiring nine of the 10 batters he faced to pick up his first save of the season.

"Michael did a good job in his first college start," McDonough said. "Tyler came in and commanded all three of his pitches to close it out."

The two teams concluded their four-game series on Saturday with a single nine inning contest beginning at noon at Brennan Field.