CHICAGO, Ill. - Fresh off its sweep of Maranatha on Friday the Regents baseball team hoped to build some momentum on Sunday before returning to Northern Athletics Conference play on Tuesday. Sunday's doubleheader saw the Regents face off against a red hot University of Chicago Maroons team that had won seven of its last eight games. The two teams squared off in a pair of seven inning games with the Maroons coming out on top in both. The University of Chicago won game one 9-2 and come from behind late to take game two by a final of 4-3.
After taking an early lead in the opener, the Regents were ultimately done in by a big second inning from the Maroons. Junior Matt Grimes (O'Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt West) drove a the run for Rockford in the top of the first inning when he walked with the bases loaded to give his team a quick 1-0 lead. Chicago answered with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning off of a pair of hits to tie the game after one inning of play. The game would not be tied for very long as Rockford answered right back with another run in the top of the second. Scott Swiderek (Chicago, Ill./Walter Lutheran) led off the inning with an infield hit. Following a sacrifice bunt and an error, Cole Logemann (Lena, Ill./Lena-Winslow) drove in Swiderek on a sacrifice fly making it a 2-1 Regents lead. However, Rockford's lead was once again short lived as the University of Chicago scored the next eight runs including scoring five in the bottom of the second. Rockford had an opportunity to cut into the lead in the third when Grimes singled and stole second and again in the sixth when Grimes doubled, but the Regents were turned away on both occasions and lost the opener 9-2.
Game two went back and forth as both teams had opportunities to win the game. The University of Chicago struck first in the opening frame scoring two runs off of two hits and taking advantage of a Rockford error to build a quick 2-0 lead. The Regents would eventually tie the game and then take the lead scoring a run in three consecutive innings. Freshman Cole Logemann put himself in scoring position when he led off the fourth inning with a double into left center field. Two batter later, Bobby Barrera (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) drove in Logemann with an RBI single into right field to cut the Maroon lead to a single run. In the fifth it was a pair of singles by Daryn Streed (Belvidere, Ill./North) and Chris Senn (Apple Valley, Calif./Silverado) that allowed Logemann to tie the game at 2-2 with a sacrifice fly into left field. In the sixth it was junior Matt Grimes who gave Rockford its first lead of the game with a clutch two-out RBI single that scored Barrera who had led off the inning with his second single of the game. Rockford held onto its 3-2 lead until the bottom of the seventh when the University of Chicago scored two runs on three hits including a game-winning two-out single to complete the sweep with a 4-3 win.
The Rockford pitching staff performed well despite the 4-3 loss. Starter Zach Liberatore (Plainfield, Ill./Central) went 3.2 innings and surrendered just 3 hits and 1 earned run. Liberatore also struck out a pair of Maroons. Junior Kaleb Rich (Washington, Iowa/Washington) also pitched well in his 2.1 innings of relief. Rich held the Maroons scoreless and gave up just two hits while striking out two.
The Regents baseball team returns to action on Tuesday, April 23rd with a pair of road games against Lakeland College. The doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
