AUBURNDALE, FLA.- Rockford University baseball continued its spring trip Thursday with two games. The first game was against New Jersey City University (1-5). The Regents pitching dominated all game in route to a 4-0 shut-out against the Gothic Knights. In game two Rockford played The College of New Jersey (3-2) and got out to an early lead. The Lions would eventually tie the game in the ninth and force extra innings. It would not take long for Rockford to come away with the extra-inning win.
Starting his second game of the spring trip, Kaleb Rich (Washington, Iowa/Washington) pitched even better than his first start when he gave up one earned run in seven and two-third innings pitched. Against New Jersey City University, Rich went seven innings and allowed only eight base runners on five hits and three walks. He did not allow a run and struck out seven batters. He was not in much trouble the entire game until the sixth inning when an infield single loaded the bases with two outs, but he induced a grounder to second to end the threat. After a lead-off walk, Zach Liberatore (Plainfield, Ill./Central) came on in relief for Rich in the seventh inning to face the heart of the order for the Gothic Knights. He struck out two batters and picked-off a runner to end the eighth inning. Kyle Pisano (Chicago, Ill./LaSalle-Peru) came on in the ninth inning to finish off the team shut-out, striking out two batters and allowing a hit.
All the offense Rockford would need for the game was supplied in the third inning. Matt Grimes (O'Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt West) worked a two-out walk and Cole Logemann (Lena, Ill./Lena-Winslow) followed by hitting a triple to left center field. The Regents added another run in the seventh after Kyle LaMore (Bourbannais, Ill./Bradley) reached base on an error, advanced to second on a walk, and then advanced to home on a wild throw by the catcher after stealing third base. Rockford added two insurance runs in the ninth. Jake McKnight (Monroe Center, Ill./Stillman Valley) started things with a lead-off single and Joe Rigg (Orlando Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) followed with a hit-by-pitch. A passed ball advanced them both and then a wild pitch scored McKnight and moved Rigg up to third. Chris Senn (Apple Valley, Cali./Silverado) singled in Rigg a few batters later for the last run of the game for Rockford.
Game two was a more difficult victory for the Regents. Rockford would get out to an early 3-1 lead after a second inning three-run home run by Scott Swiderek (Chicago, Ill./Walter Lutheran). They added another in the third due to a forced error on a Chris Holke (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) stolen base that resulted in Bryan Grabowski (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) coming home from third base. In the fourth Logemann doubled in Jacob Gorsuch (Cherry Valley, Ill./Jefferson) who was then driven in by Senn. Rockford scored again in the fifth with Connor McHugh (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Schaumburg) hitting a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Holke, who had doubled to lead-off the inning and was advanced to third by a Swiderek ground ball to the second baseman.
The Lions did some scoring of their own and never let the game get out of reach. They scored the first run of the game with a RBI double in the second. The Lions added three in the fifth with three hits and a walk. A two-out double and an error after that in the sixth inning resulted in another run for the Lions. They would get within a run in the seventh after stringing together a couple of two-out hits mixed in with a Regent error. Rockford would strike back in the bottom half of the inning with an Adrian Gameros (Rialto, Calfi./Carter) two-out RBI single to left field, scoring Gorsuch. After a lead-off single, Pisano came on for the second time on the day to try and lock down the save. The first two batters he faced flew out but the next two recorded hits, the second being a game-tying double. Pisano then settled down and retired the next batter on a strike out.
The Regents would get a runner to second base with two-outs in the bottom half of the ninth but could not get him in. Pisano retired the side in order to give Rockford another chance to walk-off with a victory. Bobby Barrera (Waukegan, Ill./Waukegan) led off the tenth inning with a single. Logemann sacrificed him over and Senn grounded out to second to get the winning run within ninty feet. Grabowski stepped up to the plate and with two strikes on him he crushed a single up the middle to score Barrera for the game winning run, the final score being 9-8 Rockford.
Rockford's next game is tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. CST against Greenville Collge.
