FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Rockford University baseball team concluded their spring trip Saturday against Wabash College and Bethel University. Against Wabash, Rockford fell behind early and never recovered falling by the final of 9-1. Against Bethel, Rockford once again fell behind but showed some resiliency in coming back to just fall short by the final of 8-7.
In game one the Regents saw their best scoring chance arise in the top of the first inning when Cole Logemann (Lena, Ill.) hit an absolute rocket off of the fence in left-center field for a one-out double. After a Ryan Scarpetta (Rockton, Ill.) walk Evan Frantini (Coal City, Ill.) hit a long fly ball off the fence in right field which brought home Logemann for an RBI single. The hit gave Rockford the lead immediately and put pressure on Wabash. Unfortunately, Wabash responded with multiple runs in the bottom of the first. Eventually, they would tack on some insurance runs to stretch the lead to 9-1 in which the Regents could not rally back from. Ultimately Rockford fell by the final of 9-1.
In game two Thomas Goodyear (Romeoville, Ill.) was cruising through three innings and then ran into trouble and was taken out of the game as Bethel scored six runs to extend their lead to 6-0 in the inning. Tyler Joyce (Rochelle, Ill.) came in after Goodyear and stopped the bleeding throwing 3 1/3 innings giving up two runs to keep Rockford in the game. Nathan Mulzer (Neenah, Wis.) followed Joyce up with an impressive performance shutting down the high-powered Bethel offense recording 5 strikeouts in 5 batters in 1 1/3 innings pitched.
Offensively, Rockford could not string any hits together through the first four innings. After falling behind 6-0 after the fourth the Regents picked up their offense in a big way adding 5 runs in the top of the fifth inning. The scoring began with a Logemann RBI single which plated Kyle Rothrock (Utica, Ill.) to give the Regents their first run of the game. Next up was Frantini who stayed hot with an RBI single that the right fielder mishandled and allowed him to advance to third base and clear the bases scoring Robert Smith (Bartlett, Ill.), Devin Standard (Stillman Valley, Ill.), and Logemann. Plating the fifth and final run was Andrew Hunt (Apple Valley, Calif.) hitting a sacrifice fly to bring in Frantini and give the Regents the big answer they were looking for narrowing the deficit to 6-5. After giving up a run in the sixth inning Rockford responded with two runs in the seventh inning. Once again Frantini had another clutch hit plating Robert Smith on an RBI single. A batter later Austin Smith (Peru, Ill.) scorched a single through the left side of the infield to bring in Logemann and tie the game up 7-7. Unfortunately, Rockford gave up a run in the bottom of the seventh inning and were never able to plate another runner falling by the final of 8-7.
Leading the Regents on the day were Frantini who went 4-for-9 with 4 RBI's and 1 run scored and Logemann went 3-for-8 with an RBI and 3 runs scored.
The Rockford University baseball concluded their spring trip with a 6-6 record. They will return to action Friday, March 25 to take on Northland College at Rivets stadium with a scheduled start time of 1 p.m.
