RIVER FOREST, Ill. - The Rockford College baseball team opening the Northern Athletics Conference portion of its 2013 schedule with a doubleheader against the Dominican University Stars. The doubleheader was originally scheduled as a home doubleheader for the Regents at Aviators Stadium, but was moved to Concordia University Chicago because of unplayable field conditions. Rockford has faired very well against Dominican holding a 22-6 overall record against the Stars; however, the Regents knew they would have their work cut out for them as the two teams split their doubleheader a season ago.
The opening game of the doubleheader went back and forth with each team able to grab a hold of the lead multiple times. The Regents loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the second and pushed across their first run on a ground ball double play to grab an early 1-0 advantage. That lead was short lived however as Dominican scored a pair of runs in the top of the third to pull ahead 2-1. Rockford answered right back in the bottom of the third. Junior Bryan Grabowski (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) began the inning drawing a walk on five pitches. Following a groundout, senior Daryn Streed (Belvidere, Ill./North) singled to center field scoring Grabowski and tying the game at 2-2. The Regents then retook the lead in the sixth inning. Second baseman Chris Senn (Apple Valley, Calif/Silverado) got on base with a one out single into center field and later advanced to second on an infield ground out. Rockford then took advantage of a miscue by the Stars defense; after Jacob Gorsuch (Cherry Valley, Ill./Jefferson) singled to the shortstop, Senn scored on an errant throw. One inning later Cole Logemann (Lena, Ill./Lena-Winslow) hit a mammoth solo shot over the left field wall to make it a 4-2 Rockford lead. However, the Stars would not go into the night quietly. Following a Rockford pitching change, the Stars regained the lead with a 3-run top of the eighth giving them a 5-4 advantage. In danger of dropping its opening NAC contest, Senn stepped up to the plate and hit Rockford's second home run in as many innings to tie the game and force extra innings.
After holding the Stars scoreless in the top of the tenth, the Regents took advantage of a couple of Dominican miscues in the bottom of the inning. After two walks, a flyout and an error, Streed stepped into the box and was a part of one of the craziest plays you will ever see to end a game. With one out and the bases loaded, Streed was called out on an infield fly that dropped to the left of the diving third baseman in fair territory. The Rockford runner took off from first base and as Dominican attempted to tag him out near second base, Gorsuch was able to beat the throw back home and score the winning run from third base giving Rockford a 6-5 win.
Game one saw a pair of brilliant pitching performances for the Regents. Junior Kaleb Rich (Washington, Iowa/Washington) got the start and had another excellent outing. Rich threw a season-high 7 innings scattering 6 hits while allowing just 2 runs. He also struck out a season-best 7 batters while walking 4. Rich did an excellent job keeping the Stars off balance as he retired the first batter in each of his seven innings including striking out the first batter in three of those innings. Jacob LeMay (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) picked up the win for Rockford in relief tossing three scoreless innings. LeMay scattered 3 hits and one walk to earn his first victory of the season.
Game two resulted in a much less stressful victory for Rockford. After surrendered a run in the second inning, the Regents scored the next 8 runs building an 8-1 lead. Streed drove in Rockford first run of game two on an RBI groundout scoring Matt Szytz (Huntley, Ill./Huntley) who had singled to lead off the inning. The next inning, Grabowski gave Rockford the lead for good when he singled in Brian Wiest (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) who reached on a single into right field earlier in the frame. The Regents poured on 5 runs in the fifth inning highlighted by a Streed triple into left center field and a 2-run home run by Senn. Chris Senn then capped off his day with his third home run of the doubleheader to lead off the sixth to make it an 8-1 Rockford lead. Dominican mounted a late rally but it fell short as the Regents held on to win game two by a final of 9-6.
Kyle Pisano (Chicago, Ill./LaSalle-Peru) took the mound in game two and had his best performance of the year. The junior scattered 6 hits and allowed just a single run over a six innings of work. Pisano fanned three Dominican hitters and issued zero free passes. Despite allowing a base runner in five of his six innings, the junior was able to buckle down and strand five Stars on the basepaths.
The baseball team returns to action on Monday, April 1st when they hit the road to play the Concordia University Chicago Cougars. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m.
