ELGIN, Ill. – The remarkable 2018 season for the Roosevelt baseball team came to an end on Tuesday, as top-seeded Judson walked off in the bottom of the 12th inning with a 7-4 victory over the fourth-seeded Lakers in an elimination game at the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament at the Eagles' Hoffer Field.
Roosevelt finishes with a school-record 28 wins, its first postseason appearance and a finish as one of the final three remaining teams in the CCAC Tournament after winning three consecutive elimination games.
Leo Lunatto homered and drove in two runs, while Zach Taylor had three hits. T
The Lakers drew first blood, scoring twice in the top of the first on an error and Lunatto's sacrifice fly.
Roosevelt tacked on another run in the second when Matt Kozlak drove one in on a sac fly.
Starter Matt Donahue was strong in seven innings, not running into any trouble until the Eagles (35-17) scored three times in the seventh to tie the game.
Lunatto launched a shot over the wall in left to quickly break the deadlock in the next half-inning, and Roosevelt took that lead into the ninth.
Judson struck quickly in the ninth against reliever Jalan Williams, who had thrown a scoreless eighth, as a leadoff double and a subsequent single knotted the game again.
Nick Simak came on again to get the Lakers out of a jam and get the game to extras.
Roosevelt had a great chance in the top of the 12th as Matt Marrera led off with a single and eventually got to third with two away. But LJ Austin was able to get Charley Zeschke to strike out to keep the game tied.
Less than a day after throwing nearly four innings of relief to save Monday's late-night win over Saint Xavier, Matt Garbacz came on in the 10th and tossed two innings unscathed. With a runner in scoring position, Lunatto made an impressive diving stop for an unassisted out at first to end the 11th inning.
Garbacz ran into trouble in the 12th, as the first two hitters reached by way of singles.
That brought up Josh Krueger, who hit Garbacz's sixth pitch of the at-bat down the rightfield line and over the wall to give the Eagles the walk-off win and a championship-round meeting with Trinity Christian.
Tuesday's ending was not representative of the Lakers' historic 2018 campaign, but Roosevelt's fight amidst the exhaustion of conference tournament baseball reinforced what Lakers fans already knew: this group never quit and created a culture of higher expectations for Roosevelt Baseball.
