ELGIN, Ill. – A valiant road effort by the Roosevelt baseball team came up short on Saturday, as the Lakers were felled by Judson in two close contests at Hoffer Field.
A four-run Judson third played a big role in the Lakers coming up a run short in Saturday's opener, as the RU 9 fell 6-5, before a four-run second proved to be the difference in a 5-1 Eagles win in the nightcap.
Nathan Greene drove in two in the first game, while Danny Grzywa drove in the Lakers' sole run in the finale.
Roosevelt took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third on RBI singles from Greene and Mike Czarnik, but the hosts erased their deficit in the bottom half of that same frame on Mark DeYoung's grand slam off of Sam Cook.
Judson tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth on a sac fly before the Lakers mounted a furious seventh-inning rally in an attempt to come back from a four-run disadvantage.
With runners at the corners, Jared Jayne singled to plate a run. Michael Lally followed with a base hit of his own to load the bags for Greene, who grounded out but drove in Grzywa.
Byron Skinner also had an RBI groundout to get the Lakers within a run of Judson, but Roosevelt ran out of outs as pitcher Andrew Bergmann escaped the late jam by inducing a game-ending flyout off the bat of Dylan Grabowski.
The Lakers out-hit the Eagles 7-6 in the first game.
Marcus Radz was on the mound in the second contest, and the sophomore pitcher recovered from early trouble that resulted in five runs after two innings to shut down the Eagles the rest of the way.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, the RU offense couldn't ride the late momentum of the first game and only mustered a run on Grzywa's RBI fielder's choice in the third. The Lakers stranded eight runners against Jordan Pemble and Ryan Perez and never brought home another run to support Radz.
The Lakers have a chance to avenge the losses on Sunday, as the series shifts to Standard Bank Stadium for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. The first game counts as a CCAC game, while the second game shifts to a non-conference contest.
