ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis baseball capped a four-game series sweep of UW-Parkside on Saturday (March 26) by defeating the Rangers 3-1 and 9-6 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference twin bill at Brennan Field. Lewis sophomore starting pitcher Dalton Hottle (Monmouth, Ill./Monmouth-Roseville) was one strike away from a no-hitter in the first game of the day.

Game One – Lewis 3, UW-Parkside 1 (HTML box | PDF box)
Hottle entered the seventh of the seven-inning game without allowing a hit. The only base runners were an error in the second and a walk and an error in the sixth that resulted in an unearned run.

In the seventh, Hottle quickly earned a groundout and a fly out to start the frame. UW-Parkside inserted Kyohei Makita, their leading batter, as a pinch hitter. He took a two-strike pitch up the middle for the Rangers' only hit of the game. Hottle finished off the complete game by getting a strikeout to end the contest.

"Dalton has been throwing the ball better reach time out," Lewis head coach Tim McDonough said. "It was pretty crushing to see him lose that no hitter with one strike to go but he gave us a great effort and it was a great kick start to the day."

Hottle is 4-0 with the win. UW-Parkside pitcher Josh Serio drops to 1-4. He gave up three runs, one earned, in six innings of work.

Offensively, Lewis scored single runs in the first, second and sixth innings. Sophomore Neal Tyrell (Minooka, Ill./Minooka), junior Austin Schultz (Greensburg, Ind./Greensburg) and senior Joe Sparacio (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) each knocked in a run in the game. 

Game Two – Lewis 9, UW-Parkside 6 (HTML box | PDF box)
Just like game one, Lewis never trailed in game two. They opened the scoring with a two-spot in both the first and second innings. The Rangers cut their deficit in half in the third with two runs, but Lewis took control in the bottom of the third with five runs. The big hit was a three-run home run by Tyrell to left center field.

Tyrell's home run gave Lewis a 9-2 advantage after three. UW-Parkside chipped away and by the middle of the six it was a three-run game at 9-6. That is where the score stayed thanks to three scoreless innings by junior Sam Couch (Bolingbrook, Ill./Joliet Catholic) to close the game and earn his fourth save of the season.

Junior Jake Herron (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West) started on the mound for the Flyers. He went six innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits with four strikeouts. He got the win and is 3-1. Tyler Jandron went all eight innings for the Rangers. He earned the loss and is 1-2.

Junior Brandon Collins (Tinley Park, Ill./Lincoln Way North), Tyrell, sophomore Ethan Bloom (Schaumburg, Ill./Hoffman Estates) and senior Kurt Becker (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) each had three hits in the game. Collins and Becker both had a double.

UW-Parkside falls to 3-15 (0-4 GLVC). Lewis improves to 14-5 (4-0 GLVC).

Lewis' sweep of a four-game GLVC series is their first since 2013. They did it twice in 2013, taking four from McKendree and Kentucky Wesleyan.

"To win four straight at home you need a lot of things going your way," McDonough said. "Offensively we were pretty locked in most of the weekend. I thought our starting pitching all gave us a chance and I thought our bullpen came in and cleaned it up really well."

The Flyers out-hit the Rangers .367 to .195 in the four-game series.

Overall Lewis has now won 10 in a row. They will put that streak on the line on Saturday (April 2) in a GLVC series at Indianapolis.