SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Lewis University's baseball team dropped both ends of its doubleheader at Illinois Springfield on Friday afternoon in Springfield, Ill. The Prairie Stars (28-6, 8-3 GLVC) won both games by scores of 5-3.
Game 1 – Illinois Springfield 5, Lewis 3
Lewis (10-19-1, 6-9 GLVC) struck first in the top of the first scoring a run.
Kevin Barry (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) reached on a fielder's choice scoring
Michael Alt (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly) from third who reached on a walk. The Flyers added to their lead in the second scoring two runs on one hit.
Ian Nguyen (Anoka, Minn./Coons Rapids) and
Patrick Keaty (South Elgin, Ill./South Elgin) were both hit by pitches to lead off the inning.
Thomas Fox (Norfolk, Va./Norfolk Christian) doubled through the left side to score Nguyen and Alt's RBI groundout to second base scored Keaty from third.
Illinois Springfield answered back with two of their own in the bottom of the second. Austin Alderman hit a two-run homer to cut Lewis' lead to 3-2. The Prairie Stars took the lead in the third on Zion Pettigrew's two-run homer.
UIS added another run to their lead in the sixth on Asher Bradd's RBI groundout to third base.
The Prairie Stars outhit the Flyers 6-5 in the contest. Lewis was led by Barry and Fox with two hits apiece while Keaty had one. Fox and Barry had an RBI each.
Ben Davis (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township) (2-3) took the loss giving up four runs on four hits and four walks while striking out three in four innings pitched.
Quin Gudaitis (5-2) picked up the win for UIS giving up three runs on four hits and two walks while striking out seven in 4.2 innings pitched. Ian Delleman picked up his first save allowing a hit and a walk in two innings pitched.
Game 2 – Illinois Springfield 5, Lewis 3
Lewis jumped out to an early lead scoring two runs on three hits in the first inning. Alt doubled and scored on
David Ascencio's (Joliet, Ill./Plainfield Central) single through the left side making it 1-0. After Barry was hit by a pitch,
Joe Preusser (Orland Park, Ill./Brother Rice) singled scoring Ascencio from second to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead.
Lewis added to its lead in the fourth.
Jason Krol (Chicago, Ill./St. Laurence) led off with a single and
Cain Headrick (Custer Park, Ill./Providence Catholic) followed with a walk. Alt's two-out double through the left side scored Headrick to make it 3-0.
UIS answered back exploding for five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Brandon Bannon singled to drive in Bobby Barnard. Youngquist walked with the bases loaded to score Bradd and a wild pitch allowed Bannon to score from third to tie the game at 3-3. Alderman's two-out double scored Pettigrew and Youngquist to give the Prairie Stars a 5-3 advantage.
The Flyers outhit UIS in game two 8-4 and were led by Alt and Barry with two hits apiece while Fox, Ascencio, Preusser, and Krol had one each. Alt, Ascencio and Preusser each had an RBI.
Michael Sclafani (Oak Brook, Ill./Montini Catholic) (2-5) took the loss allowing five runs on four hits and eight walks with three strikeouts in four innings of work. Cameron Zunkel (3-0) picked up the win coming out of the bullpen for the Prairie Stars allowing just two hits with a strikeout in 3.1 innings pitched.
The two teams will meet for the final game of the four-game set on Saturday at 1 p.m.
