ROCKFORD, Ill.- Thursday nights home baseball game against the North Central College Cardinals looked to be decided early, but a late rally by Rockford gave the Regents a chance to tie the game after being down 7-1. Rockford would score four runs in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying runner on base with two outs.
Things started out slow for Rockford. An error on a potential inning ending double play ball in the top of the first inning resulted in three unearned runs. North Central tacked on two more runs in the top of the third inning of off Regent starter James Northrup (Rockford, Ill.). Rockford responded with one of its own in the bottom of the third inning.
Robert Smith (Bartlett, Ill.) reached based with one out after getting hit by a pitch. Cole Logemann (Lena, Ill.) followed by doubling down the third base line to put runners on second and third. Smith was then driven in by Connor McHugh (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) on a sacrifice fly to center field. The Cardinals fought back and scored two runs of their own in the next half inning to go ahead 7-1.
All was the quiet until the bottom of the sixth inning. Back-to-back doubles by Brian Wiest (Lake Zurich, Ill.) and Kevin Robinson (Schaumburg, Ill.) scored a run for the Regents. The bats for both teams went cold all the way until the bottom of the ninth inning.
Robinson started off the inning by reaching base via an error. One batter later, Smith doubled down the right field line for Rockford's third run of the game. The Regents were not done there. Logemann followed with another RBI double to score Smith and get Rockford within three runs of tying the game at seven.
After a groundout and a wild pitch, which moved Logemann to third, Nick Naber (Rockford, Ill.) came up and singled to center field to score Logemann and continue the rally. Pinch runner Britton Seivert (Rockford, Ill.) stole second base in the middle of Evan Frantini's (Morris, Ill.) at bat to get himself into scoring position.
On a full count pitch, Frantini hit a hard grounder to shortstop, who bobbled the ball and threw it away to score the fourth run of the inning and bring Rockford within one run of tying the game. Bobby Barrera (Waukegan, Ill.) battled to another full count at bat, but he flied out to left field to end the rally and the game. Rockford fell to North Central 7-6.
Wiest and Logemann both had three hits for the game. Logemann finished 3-for-5 with a run, a RBI, and two doubles. Wiest finished 3-for-4 with a run and a double. Smith added to the Regents offensive attack by going 1-for-3 with a walk, a hit by pitch, two runs, a RBI, and a double. Josh Cooper (Yorkville, Ill.), Nathan Mulzer (Neenah, Wis.), and Jake Morsch (Somonauk, Ill.) combined to throw five and a third shutout innings in relief, allowing just two hits, no walks, and striking out three batters.
Rockford continues its season at Lakeland on Saturday April 18 with the first of two important conference weekend doubleheaders. First pitch is scheduled for noon. The Regents return home Sunday April 19 for a doubleheader against MSOE starting at 2:00 p.m.
