CRESTWOOD, Ill. – On Friday evening the Roosevelt baseball team honored its nine seniors and continued its week-long trend of shaking off a doubleheader-opening loss to a conference foe with a strong nightcap victory, this time splitting with defending CCAC regular-season champion Judson at Ozinga Field.
The Lakers (12-26, 12-15 CCAC) saw the Eagles (15-20, 10-18 CCAC) score seven runs in the bottom of the first to help Judson take a 13-4 decision to begin the day.
After honoring seniors Matt Kozlak, Parker Coleman, Brett Thomas, Pierce Albright, Anthony Nicholas, Matt Marrera, Frankie Perino, Leo Lunatto and Zach Taylor, the Lakers faced a 4-0 deficit after a half-inning of play before rallying back and eventually bursting ahead with a six-run fifth inning to defeat the Eagles by a final of 11-7.
It was the third time since Monday that the Lakers have suffered a loss in the opener of a league doubleheader and rebounded for a win in the second game.
Lunatto was the lone bright spot to start the twinbill in one of his final regular-season games as a Laker. He went 3-for-4 with two RBI, helping close gaps to 7-2 and 8-4 before Judson scored five runs between the fourth and fifth innings.
Trailing 8-4 with the bases loaded and two outs in the third, Judson starter Chris Cuppini struck out Connor Graefen on a called strike three to end Roosevelt's most dangerous threat of the contest and keep the Eagles in front.
Judson rightfielder Josh Krueger homered twice and drove in five runs in the first game.
After the emotions and celebration of Senior Day festivities, Thomas got the nod for his first start of the season and first start since 2017. A nervous beginning was marked by six consecutive pitches out of the zone and Judson scoring four times in the frame. However, Thomas settled down nicely for two more innings and held the Eagles scoreless in that span to keep the Lakers in the game early.
Roosevelt responded quickly to Judson's start, scoring three times in the bottom of the first. After Marrera drew a leadoff walk and Kozlak hit a double to put two in scoring position, Coleman singled to get two RU runs on the board as he drove in Marrera and a bobble in center allowed Kozlak to come home.
Chad O'Hehir hit a groundball fielder's choice that allowed Coleman to score the inning's third run.
The Lakers tied the game on Taylor's second-inning sac fly, and Roosevelt took its first lead of the day in the third thanks to Joey Fox's RBI single that followed a walk and subsequent steal of second by O'Hehir.
Judson tied the game in the fifth, but the Lakers were undeterred. In the bottom half of the same frame, Kozlak was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to push in the go-ahead run. The next batter then cleared the bases, as Coleman walloped a ball deep into left center that went all the way to the fence and brought home a trio of Lakers on a galvanizing triple.
The hits and runs kept coming by the way of more hustle from the next batter. Taylor hit a ball in the vicinity of Coleman's triple, and a pair of diving Judson outfielders allowed the ball to get to the wall and gave a steamrolling Taylor enough time to truck all the way home for an inside-the-park bonanza.
Judson would not go away, scoring twice in the top of the seventh to make it an 11-7 game, but reliever Matt Donahue induced a critical inning-ending double play and then retired the Eagles in order in the eighth and the ninth to close the books on another home conference win and the Lakers' 2019 home slate at Ozinga Field.
The series finale between Roosevelt and Judson in Elgin, scheduled for Saturday, was snowed out. The game will be played on Wednesday, with a probable start time of 5 p.m. Roosevelt will be back in action on Monday for a makeup game against St. Ambrose at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa.
