WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Lewis University's baseball team opened up its Spring Break trip with two wins on Sunday at the Chain Of Lakes Stadium in Winter Haven, Florida. Lewis beat West Virginia Wesleyan 11-7 and Concordia-St.Paul 4-1 later in the afternoon. The Flyers improve to 2-5 on the season.
Game 1 – Lewis 11 Bobcats 7
The Bobcats scored early in the first after a Geovani Sostre single followed by an Adrian Delgado homerun to put West Virginia Wesleyan up 2-0.
The Flyers got on the board in the fifth inning, scoring five runs on three hits. After
Thomas Fox (Norfolk, Va./Norfolk Christian) led off the inning with a walk,
Cherokee Lebeau (Shorewood, Ill./Minooka) singled to center to score Fox.
Angelo Cantelo (Blue Island, Ill./Marian Catholic) doubled to left field and
Max Warren (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) walked to load the bases.
Julian Everett (Frankfort, Ill/Lincoln Way East) hit an inside the park home run over the center fielder's head to clear the bases.
West Virginia Wesleyan answered back with four in the top of the fifth on three singles by Sostre, Thatcher Poteat and Hunter Eplin.
Lewis answered back with one of their own after
Dalton Crowder (Romeoville, Ill./Plainfield East) drew a walk with two outs to put a runner on first. Cantelo hit a ground-rule double to the left center gap to bring Crowder around the bases.
The Flyers, down 7-6, retook the lead in the bottom half of the eighth scoring five runs on four hits. After
Dalton Meredith (Debary, Fla./University) led off the inning with a walk and Everett reached on an error by the first baseman, Lewis strung together four consecutive hits which included singles by
Gavin Kriegel (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and
David Ascencio (Joliet, Ill./Plainfield Central) and doubles by
Kevin Barry (Bartlett, Ill./South Elgin) and Fox. The Flyers took the lead 11-7 heading into the ninth.
Jake Lotz (Palos Hills, Ill./St. Laurence) finished off the game for the Flyers, striking out two of the four batters faced in one inning of work.
Nick Huisman (Westmont, Ill/Timothy Christian) (1-0) notched the win while not allowing a hit in his two innings of work. Andrew Owens (0-1) suffered the loss. Everett (4 RBI), Barry and Cantelo each had two hits to lead Lewis offensively.
Game 2 – Lewis 4 Golden Bears 1
The Flyers scored three runs on three hits in the top half of the third inning. After a single by
Jason Krol (Chicago, Ill./St. Laurence) and a walk by
Patrick Keaty (South Elgin, Ill./South Elgin), Everett doubled to left center, scoring Krol and putting runners on second and third. After Keaty scored on a wild pitch, Lebeau singled up the middle to score Everett, making the score 3-0.
Lewis scored one run in the fifth on two hits each by Keaty who later scored on a Lebeau single up the middle.
The Golden Bears scored their lone run in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Bryce Nelson to score Matt Pietsch.
Ben Davis (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township) (1-1) picked up his first win of the season, inducing a double play ball to end the fifth inning with the bases loaded.
Matt Helwig (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) came in relief throwing 3.1 shutout innings with five strikeouts to notch his first save of the season. Lebeau went 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBI, while Krol added a pair of hits.
Lewis returns to the diamond Monday as it takes on Minnesota Crookston at Lake Myrtle Park in Auburndale, Florida at 5 p.m.
