CRESTWOOD, Ill. – The Roosevelt baseball team threatened in each of its final turns at bat during Wednesday's doubleheader against visiting Indiana South Bend, and the Lakers were able to do tiebreaking eighth-inning damage in the nightcap to pick up a split against the Titans at Standard Bank Stadium.
Roosevelt (10-27, 6-18 CCAC) scored three times with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to break a 4-4 tie and pick up a 7-4 victory over IUSB (19-24, 10-14 CCAC) in the finale.
A balk brought in the go-ahead run in the eighth, and second-year standouts Parker Coleman and Matt Kozlak delivered back-to-back RBI hits to drive in key insurance runs.
The Lakers evaded being no-hit by Indiana South Bend starter Trey Bickel, who held the Lakers without a knock for six frames in the opener until Colten Trager broke up the bid with a hard-hit infield single in the bottom of the seventh to put the tying run aboard. Roosevelt wasn't able to cash in as the Titans rode Bickel's one-hit shutout to a 2-0 decision.
Roosevelt rebounded from the single-hit showing in the first game with an immediate doubling of that output in the bottom of the finale's first inning. Kozlak hit a one-out double and got to third on an error, and Tyler Ward drove him in with a base hit to tie the game early.
Jordan Coakley hit a go-ahead RBI single to plate Jonah Meidl-Zahorodny after the latter led off the second with a triple.
Spencer McCool homered in the third to tie the game, and the tilt stayed that way until the Titans took the lead in the top of the sixth on an unearned tally after an error.
The Lakers struck back in the bottom half of that same frame. Andrew Bohlmann hit a game-tying RBI single with two outs, and Coakley came through in the clutch again with a triple that gave the Lakers the lead.
Matt Garbacz was stellar in seven innings, giving up just two earned runs while fanning six Titans.
The Titans tied the game against Anthony Nicholas in the top of the eighth, but Nicholas was able to escape further damage with two runners aboard and no outs by fanning two straight hitters and inducing an inning-ending popout.
That set the stage for the Lakers in the bottom of the eighth, as Alvin Perez hit a ground-rule double that put Coakley at third. Moments later reliever Zane Gonzalez was called for a balk, allowing Coakley to trot home with the go-ahead score.
Coleman hit the first pitch he saw from Gonzalez down the third-base line for an RBI double, and Kozlak sent a ball to right for an RBI base hit that put Roosevelt ahead by three.
Nicholas induced a game-ending double play in the ninth for the win.
Bickel was the story in the opener, as Roosevelt couldn't muster much of anything against the IUSB pitcher as he accumulated 11 punch-outs in seven innings.
Matt Dunne was strong on the mound himself in a complete-game effort that saw him give up just four hits and two runs.
Unfortunately that is all the Titans needed behind Bickel, who only faced trouble in the final inning as Ward was hit by a pitch and Trager hit a laser that IUSB third baseman Austin Thomas dove for to knock down and attempt a throw to first, but Trager beat it out and Bickel's no-hit bid was denied.
Bickel escaped unscathed even with the winning run coming to the plate, retiring the next three hitters.
Roosevelt concludes the regular season this weekend with a three-game series against Saint Xavier. The set begins on Saturday at the Cougars' home field at noon before wrapping at Standard Bank Stadium on Sunday at 1 p.m.
