LISLE, IL - The Benedictine University baseball team recorded a split with Aurora on an eventful Sunday with the win marking the 300th in the career of head coach
Adam Smith.
FINAL SCORES
Aurora 7, Benedictine 6 - Gm 1
Benedictine 5, Aurora 2 - Gm 2
THE DETAILS - GM 1
• The contest was a back-and-forth affair with a playoff atmosphere in a game that determined the South Division champion
• Aurora jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a run in the first and three in the second
• Benedictine jumped back into the contest with three runs in the bottom of the third
• Kevin Bushnell was hit by a pitch to start the inning and
Nic Presutti singled
• Cameron Falk opened the scoring with an RBI single
• Anthony Lenza knocked home a run with a groundout and Brendan Norberg singled home another
• Benedictine was able to tie the game in the fifth when
Damen Castillo homered over the wall in right
• Aurora answered with a run in the sixth to lead 5-4, but Benedictine responded with two in the bottom of the inning to lead 6-5
• Presutti and Falk walked to open the inning and scored on a fielder's choice from Norberg and a safety squeeze from
Kyle Mitter
• Aurora had another quick answer with two runs in the seventh and Benedictine the tying run at third in the eighth
• The win handed Aurora the South Division title and the top seed in the conference tournament
STAT LEADERS - GM 1
• Alex Schram started and worked six innings, allowing three earned runs
• Ty Liaromatis suffered the loss in relief
• Dan Dombrowski tossed 1.2 scoreless innings with
Ryan Litavecz recording the final out
• Castillo finished with two hits and Norberg drove home a pair as Benedictine finished with eight hits
THE DETAILS - GM 2
• Benedictine built a 5-0 lead in the second contest to record a split of the doubleheader
• Ryan Doubek lifted a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third to open the scoring, plating
Jeremy Davis
• Jack Surin added an RBI double to score Mitter
• One big swing from Bushnell accounted for the other three runs with a three-run blast in the bottom of the fifth
• Aurora scored twice in the seventh but could pull no closer as the bullpen closed out the victory and a split of the four-game series
• The win marked the 300th for head coach
Adam Smith, who has been at Benedictine since 2016
STAT LEADERS - GM 2
• Drake Berman earned the win, allowing one run in 6.1 innings
• Litavecz notched his conference best fifth save of the season by recording the final six outs
• Benedictine finished with six hits
• Bushnell drove home three
UP NEXT
Benedictine (27-11, 15-5 NACC) hosts Illinois Tech on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in the opener of the conference tournament. The entire tournament will be played at Benedictine. The 27 victories are the most under Smith in his Benedictine tenure.