CHICAGO – The Roosevelt University baseball team split a CCAC Conference road doubleheader with Saint Xavier University, wining game one by the score of 7-6 and losing game two in 10 innings by the same score on Tuesday, March 29 at Richard R. Ferrell Memorial Field.  The Lakers are now 3-2 in conference play and 9-11 overall this season.

In game one of the day, Saint Xavier built a 3-0 lead with a solo homerun in the second inning and two runs on two hits and an error in the third.  The Lakers cut the deficit to 3-2 in the fifth inning with Daniel Gutierrez singling home Andrew Olszewski, who had been hit by a pitch to leadoff.  Roosevelt loaded the bases after a Nick McAlister walk and Jojo Mack drove in Tom Sabo, who had reached on an error, with a sacrifice fly.

Saint Xavier came back with solo runs in both the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to extend its lead to 5-2.  However, the Lakers roared back with a five-run seventh inning to take a 7-5 advantage.  Sean Blanchard reached on an error and Gutierrez singled with both scoring on a double by McAlister.  Mack followed with a base hit to score McAlister and then stole second base before scoring on a Jaylen Heard single.  Diego Blanco came in to pinch run for Heard, advancing to second on a wild pitch and scoring on a base hit from Hunter Darst. 

The Cougars attempted a rally of their own in the bottom half of the final inning, scoring a run on three straight singles to begin the inning.  However, Krzysztof Solis got the next batter out on a sacrifice bunt, which moved the tying and winning runs into scoring position, and Kerry Zeese got a force out and struck out the final batter to secure the Lakers victory.

Roosevelt struck first in game two, scoring single runs in the second and fourth innings.  In the second inning, Heard doubled to left field and scored on an error during Darst's at bat.  Darst then tripled in the fourth and scored a batter later when Sean Blanchard singled to left field. 

Saint Xavier answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth on two hits and a walk to take a 3-2 lead, but RU came right back with a three-run fifth inning to retake the lead.  McAlister got things going with a two-out double and then stole third before scoring on a Mack single.  Trevor Heinlein and Heard followed with base hits of their own to load the bases, and Darst also singled to drive in Mack and Heinlein for a 5-3 margin.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cougars erased the Lakers lead with another three-run inning on three hits and an error to take a 6-5 lead.  Both teams did not score in the seventh and eighth innings and Roosevelt pushed across the tying run in the ninth.  Heinlein led off with a base hit and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from Olszewski.  With two outs, Blanchard came through with a single to bring in Heinlein with the tying run. 

The Lakers threatened to take the lead in the 10^th inning after a Jesus Gomez double to lead off the inning.  Unfortunately, the next three batters were retired to end the inning and strand Gomez at second base.  In the bottom half of the inning, an RU error put the eventual winning run on base, with the runner moving into scoring position after a hit batter and scoring on a base hit to end the game.

GAME ONE DETAILS

Score:   Roosevelt            0  0  0  0  2  0  5                 7   9   2
                Saint Xavier        0  1  2  0  1  1  1                 6   9   3

W: Krzysztof Solis (3-1)                  L: Zack Millsap (2-1)

Records: Roosevelt 9-10, 3-1 (CCAC) | Saint Xavier 23-5, 7-2 (CCAC)

Location: Richard R. Ferrell Memorial Field | Chicago, Ill.

KEY STATS

• Nick McAlister went 2-for-3 with a double, RBI, & run scored
• Hunter Darst was 2-for-4 with a double & RBI
• Daniel Gutierrez went 2-for-3 with an RBI & run scored
• Jojo Mack was 1-for-3 with two runs batted in & a run scored
• Jaylen Heard went 1-for-4 with an RBI
• Krzysztof Solis upped his record to 3-1 after pitching a 1/3 of an inning in relief, allowing a run on three hits
• Noah Mathias started the game on the mound, going 5 2/3 innings & allowing five runs on six hits to go with seven strikeouts & two walks

GAME TWO DETAILS

Score:   Roosevelt            0  1  0  1  3  0  0  0  1  0      6   15   3
                Saint Xavier        0  0  0  3  0  3  0  0  0  1      7   10   4           

W: Krzysztof Solis (3-2)                  L: Noah Scott (1-0)

Records: Roosevelt 9-11, 3-2 (CCAC) | Saint Xavier 24-5, 8-2 (CCAC)

Location: Richard R. Ferrell Memorial Field | Chicago, Ill.

KEY STATS

• Hunter Darst was 2-for-4 with a triple, two RBI, & a runs scored
• Sean Blanchard went 2-for-4 with two runs batted in
• Trevor Heinlein was 2-for-5 with two runs scored
• Jaylen Heard went 2-for-4 with a double & run scored
• Jojo Mack was 2-for-6 with a run batted in & run scored
• Jesus Gomez went 2-for-4 with a double
• Isaac Riegler started for RU, going five innings & allowing five runs on six hits with two strikeouts & two walks
• Bryan Green threw 2 1/3 innings, allowing one runn on three hits with three strikeouts & two walks
• Krzysztof Solis suffered the loss, allowing one unearned run on one hit in a 1 1/3 innings pitched

NEWS & NOTES

• The Lakers dropped the conference series to the Cougars two games to one after losing 17-5 on March 25
• Saint Xavier is receiving votes in the latest NAIA Top 25 Poll
• RU is now 11-19 versus SXU in the all-time series
• Click here to view the current CCAC Conference standings

NEXT UP

The Lakers host Lincoln College in a CCAC Conference single game on Thursday, March 31 with first pitch scheduled for 1pm at Ozinga Field in Crestwood, Ill.