PEWAUKEE, Wis. – The Roosevelt baseball team scored 12 unanswered runs to roar back from an eight-run deficit to host Cardinal Stritch and defeat the Wolves, 12-8, at WCTC Field on Sunday afternoon.

Rookie Jon Knies drove in four runs for the Lakers (14-20, 11-14 CCAC), who continue to make their case in the chase for a berth in the upcoming CCAC Tournament.

It didn't look good early against the team they are chasing for the bid, as Stritch (17-20, 12-15 CCAC) jumped ahead with a run in the first, four in the second to chase starter Marcus Radz, and three more in the third for a daunting 8-0 advantage heading into the fourth.

The Lakers did not let that undesirable start deter them, as they scored three times in the fourth and tacked on a four-spot in the fifth to make it a one-run affair.

Senior Ruben Lomeli came on and pitched nearly four innings of scoreless relief, and Jared Jayne shut the door at the end with two and a third innings of shutout mound work en route to the win.

Those two relief performances set the stage for Roosevelt's dramatic eighth and ninth innings on offense.

In the eighth, the Lakers scored all their runs with two out as Alvin Perez hit a game-tying RBI single and Knies helped two runs cross the plate with a ground ball that was misplayed at second, giving the Lakers their first lead of the day.

The Green and White tacked on two more in the ninth after RBI hits off the bats of Charley Zeschke and Danny Grzywa.

Jayne escaped a minor snafu with two runners aboard and the tying run on deck with a foul out, a fielder's choice and a liner corralled by AJ Neufeld to end the game.

The two teams resume their series with a makeup of Saturday's rained-out doubleheader on Monday, April 27 at 3 p.m. The games take place in Crestwood on the new FieldTurf surface at Standard Bank Stadium.