FORT MYERS, Fla. – After dropping a pair of pitcher's duels to Gettysburg yesterday, the Rockford College baseball team took to the field on Tuesday for a single game matchup against the Westminster College Blue Jays. The Regents offense has been in a bit of a slump to start the season scoring only 9 runs in its first three games. The pitching staff however has been excellent allowing only 7 earned runs over the first 29 innings of the season.
Tuesday's game against the Blue Jays was a complete 180 to the previous three games as the Regents bats came alive while the pitching staff had a difficult outing. The game started out well for Rockford as starting pitcher Zach Liberatore (Plainfield, Ill./Central) cruised through the first two innings without surrendering a run. The Regents then had their best inning of the season in the bottom of the second. Freshman Cole Logemann (Lena, Ill./Lena-Wiinslow) got the inning started when he scorched a pitch into the right center gap for a double. He scored on the very next play as Adrian Gameros (Rialto, Calif./Carter) dropped down an excellent bunt for a hit and then advanced to second on a throwing error which also scored Logemann. Shortstop Joe Rigg (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sanburg) knocked in the next run on an infield single to second. Following an infield popout, Rockford scored two more runs to grab a 4-0 lead courtesy of a pair of singles from Daryn Streed (Belvidere, Ill./North) and Chris Holke (Barrington, Ill./Barrington). The Regents pitching staff then hit a bit of a road bump in the road over the next six innings as they allowed 13 runs, 11 of which were unanswered by Rockford's offense. Rockford was able to push a total of four more runs across the plate in the seventh and eighth innings but it was not enough as Westminster won the game 13-8.
Daryn Streed and Cole Logemann continued their hot starts to the season each going 3-5 with a double. Streed is now 6-18 through four games with a double, triple and three runs batted in. Logemann bumped his batting average to .500 (6-12) with three doubles, three runs scored and one run batted in.
Rockford is off on Wednesday but will return to action on Thursday in Fort Myers, Fla. The Regents will try to get back into the win column when they take on Monmouth College at 10 a.m. EST.
