Crestwood, Ill. - Freshman Alex Miramontes was lights out on the mound and Joe Lyons' walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Roosevelt baseball team a dramatic 2-1 victory over CCAC South Division leader St. Francis (Ill.) as the Lakers split an afternoon doubleheader with the Fighting Saints on Tuesday. St. Francis (Ill.) took the opener by a 9-3 margin.

Roosevelt is now 7-26 on the season and 6-15 in CCAC play, while the Fighting Saints sit at 28-12 overall and 18-5 in the league.

Game two was a duel between Roosevelt freshman pitcher Alex Miramontes and St. Francis (Ill.) lefty Jacob Evans as the two traded putting bagels on the scoreboard through the first five innings.

The Lakers finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth inning when Lyons, who had three hits in the game, set the table with a leadoff double. Grzywa then put down a perfect bunt that hugged the third base line. St. Francis (Ill.) third baseman Anthony Feliciano made an off-balance throw to first, but Grzywa was in ahead of the throw and Lyons came around to score as the ball bounded away from the first baseman giving Roosevelt a 1-0 lead.

Miramontes surrendered a leadoff single in the top of the seventh, but was one out away from his second shutout of the season when David Schwab came through for the Fighting Saints with a two-out, RBI double to tie the score 1-1.

The Lakers answered right back, putting the first two runners aboard in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Steve Kazak. The Fighting Saints went to their bullpen again, calling upon Corey Schultz to try and wiggle out of the jam. Schultz retired the first two batters he faced, but Lyons would sneak a single through the right side of the infield. Pinch runner T.J. Davis raced around third and scored the winning run as Brad Porter's throw from right one-hopped past the catcher.

Miramontes collected his third win of the season, tying the Roosevelt single-season record for wins by a pitcher. He went the distance, allowing just the one run on seven hits with five strikeouts. Kazak suffered the loss, falling to 0-1. Evans earned a no-decision despite allowing just one unearned run on four hits in five innings.

The Lakers fell behind early in game one as St. Francis (Ill.) capitalized on a Roosevelt fielding error for a pair of runs in the first inning. The Fighting Saints added two more in the third to take a 4-0 lead after the Lakers committed three more miscues in the frame.

Defensive misplays seemed to be contagious as a pair of St. Francis (Ill.) errors in the bottom of the third opened the door for a three-run Roosevelt rally. Senior Ernesto Irizarry got the Lakers on the board with a two-run single, which was followed by an RBI knock off the bat of senior Tony Valdes that cut the Fighting Saints' advantage to 4-3.

Roosevelt starting pitcher Carlos Camacho found his groove in the middle innings, retiring nine straight batters in one stretch. St. Francis (Ill.) broke that string with a leadoff walk in the seventh. That free pass opened the flood gates for the Fighting Saints, who would go on to plate five runs on four straight hits off Camacho and reliever T.J. Davis to take a 9-3 advantage. Porter started the surge with a two-run single through a drawn in infield. That was followed by back-to-back RBI singles form David Schwabe and David Kuhne, before Jesse Gregurich capped the rally with a run-scoring double to right field.

Sophomore pitcher Jacob Butler tossed six to earn the victory for the Fighting Saints, moving to 8-1 on the season. Camacho dropped to 1-4 this year, giving up four hits and five walks in 6-plus innings of work.

Senior Tony Valdes led Roosevelt offensively with three hits in game one.

The Lakers will be back in action on Thursday night when they host Cardinal Stritch for a single, nine-inning game at 6:30 p.m. at Standard Bank Stadium.