By scoring 12 runs in the top of the seventh in the second game, the Benedictine University baseball team salvaged a split of a wild doubleheader with Rockford University on the road and secured the three seed in the upcoming NACC Tournament.
GAME ONE: ROCKFORD 7, BENEDICTINE 6 - 10 INNINGS
Rockford was twice down to their final at bat but managed to keep the game alive before finally winning in the bottom of the 10th.
Benedictine led 4-1 without scoring a run on a hit as a sacrifice fly, an error and two wild pitches led to the runs. Rockford sent the game to extras with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Benedictine led 6-4 in the ninth, again with both runs crossing without a hit.
Kevin Bushnell lifted a sacrifice fly and
Ryan Doubek scored on a wild pitch but the hosts scored twice in the bottom of the inning and eventually won with two outs in the 10th.
Doubek was the lone member of the lineup to record multiple hits, finishing with a pair.
George Betevis walked three times along with
Justin Nonnenmann, who swiped a pair of bases.
Andrew Kurcz started and worked five innings, allowing just one earned run while fanning five.
Nick Shelton worked 4.1 but suffered the loss.
GAME TWO: BENEDICTINE 21, ROCKFORD 5
Already leading 9-3, Benedictine left no doubt by scoring 12 runs in the seventh to preserve a split.
A four-run third inning provided plenty of space. Brenna Fisher singled home a run and
DeShawnte Carraway tallied an RBI double in the frame while
Hank Friedrich logged a two-run single.
Benedictine sent 16 to the plate in the seventh.
The team finished with 21 hits in the contest. Fisher, Carraway and
Logan Gregorio tallied four hits each. Bushnell knocked home five while Fisher plated four. Bushnell, the Benedictine and conference all-time leader in homers, connected on his fifth in the last five games. and owns 13 hits in that span with 16 runs and 15 RBIs.
JT Adams tossed six innings to earn the win.
Benedictine (28-10, 17-7 NACC) will play one of the winners of Wednesday's play-in contests at 10am on Thursday in the conference tournament.
The regular season will conclude with a Sunday non-conference game against North Park.
