LISLE, Ill. - The Benedictine University baseball team opened the conference portion of the schedule by winning two games in walk-off fashion to sweep Lakeland College after failing to hold leads in both contests.

BENEDICTINE 5, LAKELAND 4 - GAME ONE
Benedictine built a 4-0 lead but needed ninth inning heroics to capture the opener.

The Eagles scored in four different frames. Justin Kovalsky notched an RBI double in the bottom of the first to put Benedictine ahead 1-0. Brandon Villanueva lifted a sacrifice fly in the fourth to bring home Brandon Clark and made the lead 2-0. Erik Callaghan recorded an RBI single in the sixth while Clark came across on a wild pitch to account for the scoring.

Mike Irgang was in control on the mound until the eighth. Lakeland scored four times to even the game. Irgang worked 7.1 innings and struck out seven. The hero in game one was Nick Fillmore. Max Oppenheimer opened the ninth with a single and was sacrificed to second. Fillmore singled to left to end the game. Dylan Smith collected the win on the hill.

Oppenheimer picked up three hits as Benedictine tallied 15 in the opener. Matthew Higgs, Fillmore, Tim Hendricks, and Kyle Bock all added two hits each.

BENEDICTINE 4, LAKELAND 3 - GAME TWO
A different hero came through in the ninth of game two as the Eagles scored twice to rally for the victory.

Benedictine grabbed a 2-0 lead by scoring twice in the fourth. Fillmore led off with a double and scored on a single from Clark. Bock scored the second run following a two-out double from D.J. Dillon.

Christopher Jordan held the lead on the mound until the eighth. Lakeland scored all seven runs in the doubleheader in the eighth, taking a 3-2 lead on a balk. Jordan worked 7.1 innings and allowed just one earned run, striking out two.

With one away in the ninth, Hendricks doubled and advanced to third on a single from Oppenheimer. Kovalsky singled home the first run to tie the game. With two outs, Villanueva notched an opposite field game-winning single to right. Joe Palasiewicz tossed the final 1.2 innings to earn his first win of the year.

Clark picked up three hits in game two while Oppenheimer, Kovalsky, and Fillmore tallied two each.

Benedictine (7-8, 2-0) hosts the University of Chicago in a non-conference game at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The Eagles have now played 12 one-run games this year including the last six contests. Games have been decided by two runs or less in 13 of the 15 games thus far.