Game 1 Box Score / Game 1 Box Score (PDF)
Game 2 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score (PDF)

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – A doubleheader sweep, 7-2 and 5-3, by Northern Kentucky over Lewis baseball on Sunday wasn't the Senior Day the Flyers had in mind. However thanks to a victory by Kentucky Wesleyan over Indianapolis earlier in the day Lewis will play in the 2011 Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.

"Obviously we are excited about having the opportunity to play in the GLVC tournament," head coach Tim McDonough said. "It is a testament to our guys' hard work and resolve all year long. It is an honor to play postseason baseball. We worked hard all year for the chance to play for a championship."

The Flyers were the first to score in both games on Sunday, but couldn't add runs or keep Northern Kentucky's offense down enough to pull out victories. The Flyers scored their only two runs of game one in the first inning on two-out RBI singles by seniors Miguel Amesquita (Hometown, Ill./Brother Rice) (Hometown, Ill./Brother Rice/Triton) and Vince Campagna (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett).

Northern Kentucky cut the lead in half with a run in the third. However the big inning came in the fifth of the seven inning contest, when the Norse plated four unearned runs after Lewis retired the first two batters of the inning. Two additional Norse runs in the seventh made the final score 7-2.

Senior Tyler Newsome (Palos Heights, Ill./Marist) (Palos Heights, Ill./Marist/South Suburban CC) started and took the loss (3-2). He gave up five runs (one earned) on nine hits and two walks over 4.2 innings.

Game two saw Lewis score the first run of the game in the third inning on a one-out RBI single by senior Mike Vucsko (Evergreen Park, Ill./Marist) (Evergreen Park, Ill./Marist). Northern Kentucky took the lead for good with four runs in the next half inning. The big hit was a bases clearing double by Zac Asman.

The Flyers made it 4-2 with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Sophomore Brian Norwood (Medinah, Ill./Lake Park) (Medinah, Ill./Lake Park), who scored Lewis' first run, hit a sacrifice fly to score Newsome from third base. Newsome, who had doubled in the inning, added to his offensive numbers in the sixth with Lewis' only home run of the day. His shot to right field made it 5-3. The game would end 5-3, but not before Lewis put runners on in each of the final three innings. The Flyers had runners at first and second in the ninth inning but couldn't push them around to tie up the game.

Senior Joey Gradney (Rantoul, Ill./Rantoul) (Rantoul, Ill./Rantoul/Cleveland State) started and went 7.0 innings for the Flyers. His record drops to 3-5 after surrendering five runs on 10 hits. He struck out seven Norse batters.

"Today was a rough day and NKU deserved to win both games," McDonough said. "They simply played better than we did. Their pitchers kept us off balance and we never made any adjustments. I thought we threw the ball well enough to win, but we just did not hit enough and they took advantage of our defensive miscues."

Northern Kentucky improves to 29-18 (19-13 GLVC). Lewis falls to 21-16 (14-12 GLVC). Lewis concludes the season on Tuesday with a makeup doubleheader at UW-Parkside. The twin bill will start at 5 p.m.