CRESTWOOD, Ill. – For the first time in the program's modern eight-year history, the Roosevelt baseball team will be playing postseason baseball.
That's because the Lakers, in the midst of their best season since the team was revived in 2011, did what no other Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference team did this season and won the season series against CCAC regular season champion Judson with a doubleheader sweep of the Eagles at Standard Bank Stadium on Saturday.
Roosevelt took the opener by a final of 3-0 behind senior starter Matt Dunne's complete-game three-hit shutout before taking a 6-4 win in the nightcap as sophomore starter Matt Garbacz continued his mound excellence with eight innings of five-hit baseball.
The Lakers continued to add to their single-season school record for victories with wins 24 and 25 to 21 losses. Roosevelt is now 19-10 in CCAC play, concluding the day in a three-way tie for second place in the league standings along with Robert Morris and St. Francis.
Head coach Steve Marchi's Lakers will begin their first CCAC Tournament next weekend in Elgin.
Program hits leader Tyler Ward added five more base knocks to his record total, and fellow senior Charley Zeschke drove in a day-high three runs.
Zeschke drove in game one's first run in the first inning and Leo Lunatto added key insurance with run-scoring plays in the second and fifth, and Dunne did the rest. The gritty fourth-year pitcher allowed just three hits and one walk while fanning eight to go the distance and keep Judson (31-16, 23-6 CCAC) off the scoreboard.
Game two was Garbacz's turn, and outside of a three-run second inning that briefly gave the Eagles a slim lead, the second-year hurler put up seven zeroes en route to his fifth win of the year. His team-leading ERA is now 2.96.
Ward had four hits in the finale, including a game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the second, and Zeschke drove in the go-ahead run in the fourth after Ward's two-out double moments earlier started the rally.
Another run came across in the fifth on Matt Kozlak's bases-loaded walk, and Zach Taylor padded the lead with a two-out RBI single in the eighth.
Nick Simak shook off an early bases-loaded jam in the ninth that brought the go-ahead run to the plate with no outs, as the rookie pitcher elicited three consecutive outs to get the save.
Roosevelt celebrated its senior class in between games with a Senior Day ceremony honoring Zeschke, Ward, Dunne, Jonah Meidl-Zahorodny, Andrew Bohlmann and Jalan Williams.
The Lakers will wrap up the regular season on Tuesday at Standard Bank Stadium with a 3:30 p.m. contest against Trinity Christian. The game has significance on seeding in the CCAC Tournament that will begin on Friday.