SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – A nine-run eruption in the third inning propelled Lakeland University to victory against one of the better teams in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference as the Muskies topped Dominican University in the first game of the teams' baseball doubleheader Sunday night.
The Muskies went on to a 12-5 win in the first game of two against the Stars. Dominican came back for a 7-0 win in the second game, but Lakeland still grabbed a split in the two games that started four hours after originally scheduled but were still played just one day after significant snow fell in the Chicago area.
The Muskies (8-27 overall, 6-14 NACC) put up their biggest scoring outburst in conference play this season, and almost topped their previous best of ten runs in a NACC game in one inning. Lakeland sent 14 batters to the plate in the top of the third inning of the opener, hammering out nine hits in scoring nine times.
Collin Schutz (So.-Saint Amant, La.) singled twice in the inning and drove in a pair of runs and
Chase Grasso (Fr.-McHenry, Ill.) also singled, walked to drive in a run and scored twice.
Jack Banks (Jr.-Mountain View, Calif.),
Nathan Hemmerling (Riverside, Calif.) and
Connor Hilburn (Sr.-Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) also all drove in two runs each with hits and
Jon Rivera (Sr.-Lowell, Ind.) and
Steven Lozano (So.-Santa Fe Spring, Calif.) also both added RBI singles.
Lakeland would cruise from there, taking a 10-0 lead before the one blip in the fifth inning when the Stars (18-17 overall, 12-8 NACC) scored five times to slice their deficit in half. Dominican would not score again, though, as
Mason Pechy (Jr.-Diamond Bar, Calif.) went six innings and allowed four hits and five runs with five strikeouts before senior
Ryan Oharriz (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) retired nine consecutive in three spotless innings of relief for his second save of the season.
Grasso and
Trevor Meier (Jr.-Columbus, Mont.) both had three-hit days and Banks, Rivera and Schutz also all added two hits each as part of a 15-hit attack. All nine players in the Lakeland batting order scored at least one run as well, eight of the nine had a hit and seven players drove in at least one run.
The Muskies had considerably less success in the second game under the lights. Dominican starter Bryant Bagshaw continued his dominant season, improving to 8-0 with a complete-game three-hit shutout.
Banks recorded two of Lakeland's three hits and
Hunter Frisk (
Fr.-Manteca, Calif.) also reached base twice with a single and after being hit by pitch. Hilburn started on the mound and went six innings, allowing nine hits and six runs (five earned) with three strikeouts. Lakeland trailed just 3-0 into the seventh inning, when the Stars scored four times.
Lakeland wraps up its season next Sunday when it travels to face Rockford University for a doubleheader starting at noon. The games were originally scheduled for Saturday but have been moved back one day due to field availability.
