MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Rockford College baseball team seems to have found its groove over the past couple of weeks and continues to play some of its best baseball so far this season. Rockford has won nine of its last ten Northern Athletics Conference games including eight straight in NAC play. The Regents had to fight hard for its two wins on Saturday as the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors have also been on a hot streak as of late winning three straight and five of their last seven. Rockford edged closer to yet another NAC Postseason berth when it swept the Warriors 8-5 and 4-3 on Saturday.
In game one the Regents were able to put some distance between themselves and the Warriors early. Rockford got on board scoring two runs in the first inning and three more in the second. Chris Senn (Apple Valley, Calif./Silverado) drove in the Regents first run off an RBI single scoring freshman Cole Logemann (Lena, Ill./Lena-Winslow). After Senn stole second, Wiltshire drove him in with an RBI single of his own giving Rockford a 2-0 lead after one inning. In the second following a Logemann single, the Regents took advantage of a Warrior error to plate their first run of the inning. Senior Daryn Streed (Belvidere, Ill./North) knocked in the other two runs with a two-run double. Despite being down 5-0 early, the Warriors still had a lot of fight left in them scoring two runs in the third to cut into the Regents lead. Two innings later Jacob Gorsuch (Cherry Valley, Ill./Jefferson) manufactured a run for Rockford. Gorsuch led off the inning with a single, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball and then scored a wild pitch to extend his team's lead to 6-2. After Wisconsin Lutheran made it a 3-run game by scoring a run in the seventh, the Regents put the game away with a run in the eighth and another run in the ninth. Bobby Barrera (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) drove in Rockford's run in the eighth with an RBI double, and Brian Wiest (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) plated the team's run in the ninth off an RBI single giving Rockford an 8-5 win in game one.
Rockford continued its trend so far this season of getting solid pitching. Starter Kaleb Rich (Washington, Iowa/Washington) has pitched well this year and turned in another good start against Wisconsin Lutheran. Rich threw 6.2 innings and surrendered just 3 runs. The junior gave up 7 hits but struck out 6 batters to earn his second win of the season. Fellow junior Joe Rigg (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) threw the final 2.1 innings to pick up his second save of the season. It is the second time this year Rich and Rigg have combined for a win and save in the same game.
The second game of the doubleheader had a much different flow to it as it was the Regents had to play from behind nearly the entire game. Rockford surrendered a pair runs in the bottom of the first inning to quickly fall behind 2-0. The game remained 2-0 until the fourth inning when Matt Grimes (O'Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt West) tied the game. After an error, a walk and a hit batsman, Grimes doubled in two runs to knot the game at 2-2. Following a scoreless sixth inning the Warriors plated an unearned run the seventh to regain a 3-2 lead. Still trailing 3-2 entering the ninth inning Rockford needed to score at least one run in order to keep its hopes of winning a NAC title alive. Despite not recording a hit in the inning the Regents were able to score a run off of two walks, a hit batsman and an error to force extra innings. In the tenth it was Daryn Streed who put himself into scoring position with a leadoff double. With the go-ahead run on second and no outs, Kyle LaMore (Bourbonais, Ill./Bradley) pinch ran for Streed. Two batters later LaMore moved up to third off a Grimes groundout. LaMore then scampered home one batter later off a passed ball to give Rockford its first lead of the game. The pitching staff did its job in the bottom of the tenth holding the Warriors scoreless to complete the sweep with a 4-3 win.
Rockford used four pitchers defeat Wisconsin Lutheran in game two. Starter Michael Kiviranta (Schaumburg, Ill./Hoffman Estates) had his best start in nearly three weeks. Kiviranta threw 7.1 innings and scattered 7 hits while giving up just 2 earned runs. The sophomore also struck out 7 batters and walked just 2. James Freeman (Berwyn, Ill./Morton West) and Eric Miller (Cudahy, Wis./Cudahy) combined to throw the next inning. The duo gave up 0 runs off of one hit and one walk. Senior Zac Wolf (LaSalle, Ill./LaSalle-Peru) threw the final 1.2 innings and picked up his fourth win of the season. Wolf surrendered just one hit and struck out one batter.
With the sweep Rockford improves to 13-5 in Northern Athletics Conference play. The Regents are just one game out of first place and only need to win one of its final four conference games to secure a spot in the NAC Tournament for the sixth time in seven seasons.
The Regents return to the diamond on Sunday, April 28th against the Edgewood College Eagles. The doubleheader is scheduled to start at 1 PM at Aviators Stadium in Loves Park, Ill.
