ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Lewis University's baseball team staved off elimination in the GLVC Tournament with a 17-5 win over Rockhurst on Friday afternoon at the Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo. The Flyers improve to 24-17 while the Hawks end their season with a record of 23-19.

Rockhurst, seeded third in the GLVC's Green Division, had the game's first scoring chance as three of its first four hitters reached base but Jake Karaba (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) got back-to-back strikeouts to escape the jam unscathed.

Lewis sent nine batters to the plate in the second inning scoring four runs on five hits. Jackson Dvorak (New Lenox, Ill./Providence Catholic) led off the inning with a ground-rule double to right field and scored on Julian Everett's (Frankfort, Ill/Lincoln Way East) single back up the middle. With one out, Kevin Barry (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) singled to left and Angelo Cantelo (Blue Island, Ill./Marian Catholic) walked to load the bases. Max Warren (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) singled to left to bring home Everett to make it 2-0. Joe Preusser (Orland Park, Ill./Brother Rice) drove in two more runs with a single to left. The Flyers had the bases loaded with one out but couldn't add on as a 3-2 double play ended the inning.

Lewis added to its lead sending 11 batters to the plate in the third inning scoring seven runs on seven hits and an error. The Flyers opened the inning with four straight singles to extend the lead to 6-0 on Barry's two-run single through the left side of the infield. With two out and the bases loaded, Anthony Cavalieri (Western Springs, Ill./Fenwick) cleared the bases with a double to right to make it 9-0. One batter later, Michael O'Brien (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic) doubled to the gap in right center to drive in Cavalieri and scored when the ball got past the center fielder and went all the way to the fence.

The Flyers added another run in the fifth. Warren led off the inning with a single and came all the way around to score on Preusser's single down the left field and an error by the left fielder.

Lewis put the game away in the sixth sending nine batters to the plate scoring five runs on four hits. Cantelo and O'Brien each hit two-run doubles in the inning while Preusser added an RBI single to right.

Rockhurst broke up the shut out with a run in the seventh, two in the eighth and two more in the ninth.

The Flyers had 20 hits in the contest with 10 different players recording a hit. Preusser, Dvorak and Warren led the way with three hits apiece while O'Brien, Everett, Rios and Barry had two hits each.

Karaba settled in over his final four innings allowing no runs on two hits with nine strikeouts against two walks in five innings pitched to pick up the win and improve to 8-1 on the season. Tyler Talbot (Channahon, Ill./Minooka) pitched three innings allowing three runs on five hits while striking out to a pair. Kurt Dankovich (Homer Glen, Ill./Providence) pitched the ninth allowing two runs on a hit and struck out one.

The Flyers will play the loser of the game between Indianapolis and Illinois Springfield in another elimination game on Saturday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. at the Lou Brock Sports Complex.