ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The Lewis University baseball team took two games from No. 2 Lindenwood Friday (April 9) at Brennan Field, defeating the Lions 13-8 and 6-3. The Flyers move to 14-8 overall, 12-6 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while Lindenwood falls to 12-2, 8-2 in the GLVC.
 
Anthony Cavalieri (Western Springs, Ill./Fenwick) led the way offensively for the Flyers, finishing the day with five hits, four runs scored, four RBI and two home runs. Lewis pitchers combined for 20 strikeouts on the afternoon.
 
"I'm proud of our offense and the approach we had at the plate all day," Lewis head baseball coach Tim McDonough said. "Lindenwood has great pitchers and I felt we stressed them out and had good at-bats.
 
"Overall we played solid defense and were able to string a few big innings together offensively and that usually leads to good things against elite teams like Lindenwood."
 
Game 1 – Lewis 13 Lindenwood 8
After a first inning run from the Lions, the Flyers came back with a run on a Michael O'Brien (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic) solo shot in the bottom of the first and then took a 2-1 lead in the second on a home run from Anthony Rios (Lemont, Ill./St. Laurence).
 
Lindenwood tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the third, but Cavalieri responded with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third, scoring Joe Preusser (Orland Park, Ill./Brother Rice).
 
Lewis followed a Lindenwood run in the fifth with six runs in the bottom half of the fifth. Julian Everett (Frankfort, Ill/Lincoln Way East) doubled, scoring O'Brien and Cavalieri. Rios then singled home Everett. Kevin Barry (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) followed with a double, scoring Rios. Angelo Cantelo (Blue Island, Ill./Marian Catholic) reached on an error, scoring Barry, and then scored later on a passed ball.
 
The Lions tallied another single run in the sixth, but Lewis scored three more times in the seventh to pull ahead 13-4. Barry singled home Everett, Cantello singled home Rios and Dalton Crowder (Romeoville, Ill./Plainfield East) drover home Barry on a sacrifice fly.
 
Lindenwood rallied with three runs in the eighth and a run in the ninth before Jake Lotz (Palos Hills, Ill./St. Laurence) finished off the game.
 
Rios finished 4-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. Barry had three hits, two runs and two RBI, while Cavalieri (2 runs, 2 RBI), O'Brien (2 runs), Everett (2 runs, 2 RBI), and Cantelo (2 RBI) all had two hits.
 
Brad Littleton (Coal City, Ill./) (4-3) earned the win, going 5.2 innings, allowing 11 hits and four earned runs, striking out seven. Tyler Talbot (Channahon, Ill./Minooka) added 1.1 scoreless innings of relief. Kyle Hentis (2-1) suffered the loss, allowing eight hits and seven earned runs in 4.2 innings.
 
"Brad really battled today against a very good team and gave us a great effort," McDonough said. "Tyler's outing today was huge. He's really throwing the ball well."
 
Game 2 – Lewis 6, Lindenwood 3
The Flyers jumped ahead early in the seven-inning contest with three runs in the first. O'Brien doubled home Preusser, Jackson Dvorak (New Lenox, Ill./Providence Catholic) singled in Cavalieri and Everett singled home O'Brien.
 
Lindenwood got a run back in the second inning, but Lewis scored three more runs in the fourth inning as Cavalieri hit his second home run of the day, scoring Crowder, and Dvorak added a solo home run.
 
The Lions came back with two runs in the fifth inning to make it a 6-3 game. They left two runners on base in both the sixth and seventh innings without scoring.
 
Cavalieri had three hits, two runs and two RBI, while Dvorak had two hits and RBI. Jake Karaba (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) (4-0) earned the win, going six innings, allowing seven hits and three earned runs, striking out seven. Lotz picked up his third save of the year with a scoreless seventh inning. Blake Beckmann (2-1) took the loss, allowing six earned runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings.
 
"Jake Karaba (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) took another step forward today in his development as a pitcher and really stepped up," McDonough said. "Although he gave up a couple runs in game one, I thought Jake Lotz (Palos Hills, Ill./St. Laurence) was really good out of the bullpen and bounced back in game two very well."
 
Lewis will be travelling to Lindenwood to conclude the series with a doubleheader Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.