ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Lewis' baseball team late rally came up a run short in an 11-10 loss to fifth ranked Illinois Springfield in the first round of the GLVC Tournament on Thursday evening at the Lou Brock Sports Complex on the campus of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo. The Flyers fall to 23-17 while the Prairie Stars move to 35-5.

Lewis, the fourth seed in the GLVC's Blue Division, jumped out to an early lead scoring four runs on four hits and two errors in the first inning. Anthony Cavalieri (Western Springs, Ill./Fenwick) started the rally with a one-out walk. Michael O'Brien (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic) followed with a single left to put two on for Jackson Dvorak (New Lenox, Ill./Providence Catholic). Dvorak drove in Cavalieri with a single. An error by the centerfielder on the play allowed O'Brien to score and Dvorak ended up at third after an error by the third baseman. Julian Everett (Frankfort, Ill/Lincoln Way East) drove in Dvorak with a double and later in the inning Austin Tittle (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) singled up the middle scoring Everett.

UIS, the top seed in the GLVC's Green Division, answered in its half of the first. With one out, Asher Bradd and Zion Pettigrew hit back-to-back singles and an error by Everett allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Kal Youngquist drove in a run with a groundout to second. Brad Littleton (Coal City, Ill./) got out of the inning striking out Chris Monroe.

The Flyers got that run back in the second as Max Warren (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) doubled into the right field corner to lead off the inning. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on O'Brien's sacrifice fly to center.

The Prairie Stars loaded the bases with two outs in the second but Littleton got a groundout back to the mound to end the inning. UIS left the bases loaded again in the third but Littleton got Bobby Barnard to line out to Cavalieri to end the inning.

The Prairie Stars took the lead in the fourth sending 12 batters to the plate scoring seven runs on five hits. Pettigrew drove in a run with a double to center and two batters later Monroe singled to right scoring Bradd and Pettigrew. Barnard was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to tie the game. Matt Verdun (Homer Glen, Ill./St. Rita) came on in relief of Littleton and allowed a three-run single to Nick Mayerhofer to give UIS an 8-5 lead.

Lewis got two of those runs back in the fifth as Anthony Rios (Lemont, Ill./St. Laurence) singled up the middle to drive in Cavalieri and later in the inning Kevin Barry (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) drew a bases loaded walk to bring home Dvorak.

The Prairie Stars scored a run in its half of the fifth. Pettigrew led the inning off with a single and went to third on a throwing error by Verdun on a pickoff attempt at first. Monroe drove in Pettigrew with a groundout to O'Brien.

The Flyers got that run back in the sixth as Joe Preusser (Orland Park, Ill./Brother Rice) led off the inning with a double down the left field line. Cavalieri walked to put two on for O'Brien hit a ground ball to second to advance both runners. With two outs, Everett beat out a high chopper to third for an infield single scoring Preusser and advanced Cavalieri to third.

UIS added a pair of unearned runs in the seventh on Brandon Bannon's two-out, two-run single to right that scored Austin Alderman and Chris Mathieu.

Lewis cut the deficit to one with two runs in the eighth. With one out, O'Brien walked, advanced to third on two wild pitches and scored on Dvorak's single to left. With two out in the inning, Angelo Cantelo (Blue Island, Ill./Marian Catholic) came off the bench and delivered a pinch hit single to left scoring Dvorak.

The Flyers loaded the bases with one out in the ninth but were unable to get the go-ahead as a fielder's choice back to the mound and a strikeout ended the game.

Lewis had 14 hits in the contest and was led by Preusser, Dvorak, Everett and Rios with two hits apiece. Littleton took the loss allowing eight runs on eight hits with seven walks and three strikeouts.

The Flyers will play Rockhurst in an elimination game on Friday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. at the Lou Brock Sports Complex. Rockhurst lost to Indianapolis 6-4 on a walk-off homer in the ninth in the first game on Thursday.