April 23, 2006

Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Lewis University baseball team secured its first series win and captured its second doubleheader sweep of the season Sunday, defeating Southern Indiana 4-2 and 6-4 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference twinbill.

The Flyers (10-36, 9-29 GLVC) took three of four from the Screaming Eagles (18-28, 15-27 GLVC) in the weekend set. Overall, Lewis has won four of five and seven of 11.

The opener, scheduled for seven innings, lasted 10 frames. Jon Guzzo (3-5) held USI in check over nine innings, allowing just two runs, four hits and two walks while striking out nine. Joe Walsh pitched the 10th and collected his first save.

Each team scored a first-inning run. For Lewis, Billy Duffy led off with an infield single, advanced to second on Phil Marchinski's sacrifice and to third on Darryl Jenkins' single, and scored on a passed ball.

After issuing two walks in the second, Guzzo tightened the screws on the USI offense. The sophomore left-hander retired 20 consecutive batters in a streak that lasted through the eighth inning.

In the ninth, Brandon Niewinski led off with a single and beat the throw to second on Jim Gabriel's sacrifice bunt to give Lewis a pair of runners. Ryan Reynolds' bunt single loaded the bases with nobody out and, after a strikeout, Niewinski scored when Duffy beat the relay throw to first on an attempted double play.

Guzzo almost nailed the door shut in the bottom of the ninth, striking out two USI hitters after surrendering a leadoff triple to Darin Mastroianni. However, Kirby Dunagan came through with a single that scored Mastroianni and sent the game to the 10th.

Victor Naut started the Flyers' winning two-run rally in the 10th with a one-out single. Tim Bingham followed with a triple that plated Naut, and Bingham scored by beating the throw to the plate on Niewinski's ground ball.

Adam Vetter (4-3) went the distance for USI and struck out 11. Jenkins and Bingham each went 2-for-5 to pace Lewis' 10-hit attack.

The Flyers wasted no time in the seven-inning nightcap, scoring three unearned runs in the first after the first two hitters were retired. A throwing error that allowed Jenkins to reach was followed by Naut's single, and Bingham's double drove home both runners. Bingham scored on Niewinski's single.

A two-run rally in the third gave Lewis a 5-1 lead. Jenkins and Naut singled and advanced on Bingham's sacrifice. Jenkins raced in on a wild pitch, and Naut scored on Gabriel's two-out single.

USI narrowed the gap to 5-4 with two runs in the third and another in the fourth. The Flyers added an insurance tally in the sixth on Reynolds' single, Ryan Duran's sacrifice and Duffy's two-out single.

Tommy Rawski (2-1) picked up the win by tossing two innings of scoreless relief. Rawski inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth and allowed just one runner to score. Jon Crettol, who stranded the bases loaded in the sixth and retired the side in order in the seventh, pitched the final 1 2/3 innings to notch his first save.

The Flyers registered 12 hits in game two. Naut was 3-for-4, and Duffy and Jenkins each were 2-for-4.

Lewis hosts Missouri-St. Louis in a pair of GLVC doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday. Game time both days is noon.