Schaumburg, Ill. - Timely hitting and strong pitching paved the way to the Roosevelt baseball team's doubleheader sweep of visiting Trinity Christian College on Wednesday afternoon at Alexian Field. The Lakers took game one by a 7-2 margin and then edged the Trolls in the nightcap, 2-1.
Roosevelt is now 7-19 overall on the year and 4-12 in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play. Trinity Christian's record dips to 12-21, 8-11 in the league.
Clutch hitting was the key to success in game one for Roosevelt as the Lakers scored all seven of their runs with two outs in a 7-2 triumph over Trinity Christian.
Roosevelt pounded out 13 hits in the contest with freshman T.J. Davis going a career-best 3-for-3 with two RBI. Juniors Tim Storrs (2-for-3, RBI), Nick Calhoun (2-for-4, 3 RBI) and Dave Plocharczyk (2-for-3), as well as freshman Louie Diaz (2-for-3, RBI), each posted multi-hit outings for the Lakers to pace the offensive charge.
Freshman Ruben Lomeli took care of things on the mound for Roosevelt. The rookie went the distance for his second win of the year, allowing two runs, one earned, while striking out four.
Joe Baker was the losing pitcher, falling to 0-5 this season. He surrendered four runs on nine hits in five innings of work.
Roosevelt scored first in game one with a trio of runs in the second inning, all of which came with two outs. Diaz came through first with an RBI single, followed by a two-run knock off the bat of catcher Davis.
After surrendering a run in the top of the fourth, the Lakers answered back with one of their own in the bottom of the inning. Once again the tally came with two outs, with Storrs coming through in the clutch with an RBI single to centerfield.
Roosevelt broke things open in the bottom of the sixth as a two-out bases clearing double by Calhoun staked the Lakers to a 7-2 lead.
In game two, Uriel Padilla tossed 6.1 strong innings to earn his first career win and freshman Brett Hoffman closed the door to pick up his first career save as Roosevelt clipped Trinity Christian, 2-1.
Roosevelt owned a 2-0 lead through five innings after a junior Ernesto Irizarry sacrifice fly in the third and an error by Trolls second baseman Graeme Scott that allowed Diaz to score in the fifth. The Trolls scored an unearned run in the sixth, but Padilla escaped further damage, stranding the tying run in scoring position.
Padilla got the first out in the seventh, but after walking Anthony Fiorenzi head coach Steve Marchi went to the pen and called upon Hoffman to get the final two outs. Hoffman got a quick out when Davis threw out Fiorenzi at second base on a steal attempt. Hoffman would then get Mike Diebold to pop out to second base to end the game.
Padilla allowed just one unearned run and four hits on the day while striking out three to move to 1-3 this season.
Rick Tilquist was the tough-luck loser for the Trolls. He fell to 2-1 on the year, despite allowing just one earned run on four hits in six innings of work.
The Lakers will be back in action on Saturday when they open a three-game series versus Cardinal Stritch with a doubleheader at Alexian Field at 12:00 p.m.
