CRESTWOOD, Ill. – Despite matching a season-high output with a 17-hit barrage, the Roosevelt baseball team stranded 15 runners on base and lost the series opener to Robert Morris Illinois by a final of 6-4 at Standard Bank Stadium on Friday.
Colten Trager, Matt Kozlak and Andrew Bohlmann had three-hit days while Bohlmann, Logan Fleener and Mark Albrecht drove in runs for the Lakers (8-20, 4-11 CCAC), who had at least one hit in every inning but left at least one runner on the basepaths in each frame.
The Eagles (19-20, 8-7 CCAC) struck in the top of the first when a sprinting Parker Coleman had a deep fly ball to left center land in his glove, but Albrecht was also still in a fast stride and the two collided to dislodge the ball from Coleman's glove and allow a pair of runners to cross the plate.
Roosevelt responded in its half of the opening inning on Fleener's run-scoring grounder that gave Dan Mazurkiewicz enough time to slide and beat the throw home.
The two teams traded runs in the third before RMU tacked on two more runs with two outs in the fifth.
Roosevelt tallied one in its half of the fifth when Albrecht hit an RBI single up the middle with two away, and the two teams traded runs in the seventh as Kozlak scored on a wild pitch to make it a two-run game.
The Lakers put two runners in scoring position with one out when Fleener lined a ball into center that Corey Krupske caught with an incredible dive. He quickly popped up and launched a high rocket throw home that catcher Austin Nelson corralled without a bounce, applying an inning-ending tag on a sliding Mazurkiewicz for a double play that halted a quality scoring chance for the hosts.
With Anthony Nicholas and Brett Thomas tossing 2.2 innings of scoreless, hitless relief, the Lakers had one more chance in the ninth to make noise. Roosevelt put two on with two out for Coleman, who lofted a pop-up to second that capped the contest.
The two teams will attempt to conclude the series on Saturday in Bensenville with a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. if field conditions are playable after rain moved through the area on Friday night.
