ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – On a wet and windy day, the Lewis University baseball team split with Wisconsin-Parkside, falling 7-6 in the first game and winning 9-3 in the final game of the series Saturday (April 14) at Brennan Field. The Flyers took three of four games in the series to move to 14-19-1 overall, 7-8 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while the Rangers are now 4-21 overall, 3-9 in GLVC.
 
Game one – Parkside 7, Lewis 6 (9 innings)
The Rangers took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the third when the Flyers scored four runs. Connor Rutherford (DePere, Wis./DePere) had a two-RBI double and Anthony Cavalieri (Western Springs, Ill./Fenwick) followed with a single to tie the game. A Neal Tyrell (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) groundout scored Cavalieri to take a 4-3 lead. Parkside responded with two in the fourth and one in the seventh to take a 6-4 lead. In the bottom of the seventh the Flyers loaded the bases with no outs. A double play scored a run and then Tyrell singled home the tying run to send the game into extra innings. In the ninth the Ranges scored on a single and shut down the Flyers in the bottom of the ninth.
 
Hunter Weddel (2-3) pitched two scoreless innings in relief for Parkside, while Brady Kostecki (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic) (0-5) took the loss for the Flyers. Jermaine Terry (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield South) went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, while Rutherford and Tyrell each had two RBI.
 
Game two – Lewis 9, Parkside 3
Lewis never trailed in the contest, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. Anthony Rios (Lemont, Ill./St. Laurence) and Alex Kiszkowski (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) each had RBI singles and Rutherford drove home two with a double. The Flyers scored five more runs in the fourth inning as Kiszkowski singled home two runs, Cavalieri had a sacrifice fly and Trayvon Johnson (Berkeley, Ill./St. Joseph's) singled home a run as Lewis took a 9-0 lead. Parkside scored two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth before Robert Talarico (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West) pitched a scoreless seventh to end the game.
 
Matt Verdun (Homer Glen, Ill./St. Rita) (2-0) earned the win, going six innings, allowing seven hits and two earned runs, striking out five. Rutherford (2 RBI), Tyrell (2 RBI) and Kiszkowski (2 runs, 3 RBI) all had two hits. Rios and Ethan Bloom (Schaumburg, Ill./Hoffman Estates) both crossed home plate twice.
 
Lewis continues its home stretch with a nonconference game Thursday (April 19) against Purdue Northwest at 3 p.m.