Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - The Benedictine University baseball team split a pair of conference games at Dominican on Monday.

Benedictine slashed 15 hits in the opener and poured it on late to pull away. The Eagles opened a 5-0 lead but needed bursts in the seventh and eighth to pull away in a 14-3 shortened opener. The Eagles led 2-0 by scoring twice on errors in the third. Matthew Higgs and Ryan Mullin extended the lead to 4-0 with run scoring hits in the fifth.

Dominican battled to within 5-3, but T.J. Floyd logged a bases loaded double in the seventh with two outs to give Benedictine breathing room. The Eagles broke the game open with six eighth inning runs. Kevin Hendricks and Tim Hendricks each drove home two runs in the lengthy frame. Max Oppenheimer and Kyle Bock also drove home runs in the inning.

Ryan Rickert evened his record at 3-3 by working 5.1 innings. Rickert struck out four and allowed two earned runs. Dylan Smith tossed the final 2.2 innings for a save. Tim Hendricks posted four hits and drove home three. Kevin Hendricks, Higgs, Mullin, and Bock registered two hits apiece.

Benedictine used six different pitchers in game two and nearly rallied from down seven in the ninth but couldn't push across the tying run in a 9-8 defeat. Benedictine led 1-0 with a second inning run on a Tim Hendricks RBI single. The Eagles evened the game at 2-2 with a tally in the fourth before Dominican scored in four consecutive innings to move ahead 9-2.

Tim Hendricks hit a grand slam as part of the six-run ninth, but Dominican was able to record the final out and hang on for the victory. Higgs and Nick Severino drove home runs in the inning as well. Tim Hendricks posted four hits and drove home five in the defeat.

Benedictine (16-12, 11-3) faces North Park on the road Wednesday.