Romeoville, Ill. - The Lewis University baseball team split their doubleheader matchup against William Jewell College (Mo.) Saturday (Mar. 21). 

The Flyers progress their overall record on the season to 7-16 while the Cardinals are up 2-1 in the series as they hold an overall record of 6-16. 

GAME ONE RECAP 
The Cardinals were able to welcome their presence to Brennan Field by taking an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Ryan Bronson led off with a double and right after, Luke Bies homered to left which inspired Lewis to make an early pitching change for pitcher Luke Brown (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North). A walk and stolen base allowed the Cardinals to cash in on their third run with an RBI single from Brayden Blundell. 

More strategic baserunning from William Jewell in the top of the second led to Bronson picking up another hit and an RBI with a single to put the Cardinals up 4-0. A Lewis error allowed an unearned run to score from third base to make it 5-0 as the Flyers allowed seven stolen bases in the inning. 

Sophomore Chris Daugherty (Chicago, Ill/Brother Rice) got the Flyers going by getting a run on the board with a solo shot to left center in the bottom of the third inning which decreased the deficit to four at 5-1. 

William Jewell was able to get that run right back though when they responded in the top of the fourth inning off the bat of Blundell who hit an RBI single which made it 6-1. 

The Flyers were able to put together a big bottom of the fifth frame when they strung together some base hits to get runners on. Senior Brian Twomey (Brookfield, Ill./Riverside Brookfield) put the ball in play with a single and advanced to second while senior Jayden Gonzalez (Chicago, Ill.) scored on the error made by second base. An even bigger hit off the bat of senior John Henry Russell (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) occurred when Russell hit a three run homer to bring the Flyers back to within one run at 6-5. 

Lewis was able to advance the tying run to second with a pinch runner in the bottom of the seventh but came up short to drop the first game of the day 6-5. Pitcher Charlie Rambo picked up the win going five full innings while giving up four earned runs on seven walks and six strikeouts. 

 
GAME TWO RECAP 
Freshman Constantine Coins opened the offense for the Flyers in the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff single to right. Gonzalez worked a walk to get two Flyers on base for freshman Jimmy Spellman (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College of Prep) who hit a three run homerun to build an early lead at 3-0. 

After a couple Lewis base hits in the bottom of the second inning, senior Tylor Phommachanhom (Plainfield, Ill/Parkland CC) knocked in an insurance run to make it 4-0 on a groundout to second. With the bases loaded, a William Jewell pitching change led to junior Kyle Peterson (Orland Park, Ill/Carl Sandburg) tallying an RBI on a walk which had Russell cross the plate to push the score to 5-0. 

Lewis added on again in the bottom of the third when Phommachanhom collected his second RBI of the game another groundout while Coins doubled to left center resulting in the second run of the inning which increased the lead to 7-0. 

Blundell led the Cardinals to the scoring column in the top of the fourth inning with a walk and later advancing to second on a wild pitch and then coming around to score off a double from Austin Dahlberg to chip away at the score at 7-1. 

A response from the Flyers in the bottom of the fourth came off the bat of Spellman once again who launched a solo homer this time around to make it 8-1 for his second homerun of the game. 

Russell wanted in on the multi-homer action as well when he cracked one out to right field in the bottom of the fifth to make it a commanding 9-1 lead. Lewis wasn't done adding on in the inning though as they followed the homerun up with a walk from Phommachanhom and a double from Coins to put both runners in scoring position for Daugherty who brought in Phommachanhom on a sacrifice fly to make it 10-1. 

The Flyers to end the bottom of the sixth, produced four runs on two hits and left three on base to inflate the score to a dominant 14-1. Peterson scored on a sacrifice fly from junior Alex Chaltin (Lombard, Ill./Willowbrook), while a couple walks led to another William Jewell pitching change. Another Lewis sacrifice fly marked another RBI for Phommachanhom and junior Cole Clemens (Marco Island, Flo.) came around to score on a wild pitch by the Cardinals. Before another William Jewell pitching change in the sixth, sophomore Blake Phommachanhom (Plainfield, Ill/Plainfield South) got an RBI of his own when he worked a hit by pitch to end the staggering offense by the Flyers. 

A controlling outing from both Lewis pitchers, graduate student Ben Catrambone (Western Springs, Ill.) who went 2.1 innings with a strikeout and no runs and junior Jackson Bruno (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame Prep) who went 4.2 innings with three strikeouts and the lone Cardinal run, led Lewis to the win and allowed the offense to shine. 
 

UP NEXT 
The Flyers will stay home in Romeoville, Illinois to play the finale of their four game series set against William Jewell Sunday (Mar. 22). An updated time for first pitch is now at 11:00AM CST.