SAN ANTONIO, Tex. - The Regents baseball team took to the field on Saturday afternoon looking to avenge a 12-6 loss on Friday against the second ranked Trinity University (Tex.) Tigers. The Tigers entered the doubleheader against the Regents boasting a 21-4 record and are the second ranked Division III baseball team in both the ABCA poll and the D3Baseball.com poll. Rockford began the day having lost eight straight and were looking to pull an upset in order to jump start its season.
The Regents sent one of its top pitchers to the mound in game 1 in sophomore Michael Kiviranta (Schaumburg, Ill./Hoffman Estates). Despite his 0-2 record entering the game, Kiviranta has been excellent on the mound posting a 0.63 earned run average so far this season. The sophomore did a nice job holding down an explosive Tigers offense for much of the afternoon giving his offense a chance to score runs and put pressure on Trinity. Kiviranta gave Rockford 7 solid innings surrendering 5 runs while fanning 4 and issuing one walk, his first of the season. It was his third solid outing of the season in as many starts.
The game opened with neither team able to do much offensively for the first couple of innings. However, Trinity broke the scoreless tie in bottom of the third inning with a single run. The Tigers led of the inning with a single, stole second and finally were able to take a 1-0 lead following back-to-back singles. Trinity followed a similar format in the bottom of the forth with a single, stolen base and another single to take a 2-0 lead after four complete.
Rockford was able to break through in the top of the fifth and provide some run support for its starting pitcher. Juniors Kris Russell (Lacon, Ill./Midland) and Chris Senn (Apple Valley, Calif./Silverado) began the inning with a walk and a hit batsman respectively to place runners on first and second with no outs. After a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners 90 feet, fellow junior Jacob Gorsuch (Cherry Valley, Ill./Jefferson) drove in the Rockford's first run of the game on an RBI groundout to second base. Following another walk that put runners on the corners with two outs, Rockford struck out to end the top of the fifth trailing 2-1.
The Tigers would answer in the bottom of the fifth plating 3 runs to push their lead to 5-1. Trinity was able to score its runs on just two hits but took advantage of a leadoff walk to begin the inning and stole four bases as well.
Rockford was unable to get a base runner again until the ninth inning. After a one-out walk and a single placed runners on the corners, the Regents were caught trying to steal second and then grounded out to end the game losing 5-1.
The Regents also dropped the second game of the doubleheader falling by a final of 8-0. Catcher Terry Wiltshire (Elizabeth, Ill./River Ridge) had a nice game at the plate going 2-4 with a pair of singles to raise his season batting average to .312. Pitchers Sam Parlapiano (Rockford, Ill./Harlem) and Kyle Burger (Plainfield, Ill./North) each tossed a scoreless inning in relief.
The baseball team will look to win the final game of the four game series against Trinity University tomorrow. First pitch is set for noon on Sunday, March 24th.
