VERONA, Wis. -- The Rockford University baseball team split with Edgewood University on Tuesday in NACC action. The Regents rallied late in the first game to win 7-5, but lost in game two 9-2.
The Regents will return to action on Saturday, April 25, for a pair of NACC games, traveling to Lakeland University, with the first pitch set for noon CDT.
Game One: Rockford 7, Edgewood 5
Trent Lawrence continued his hot play at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a home run and a sacrifice fly. Lawrence led the team with three RBIs.
Marcus Taylor also had a solid day, recording a team-high three hits going 3-for-5, adding an RBI, and
Blaise Mace had the other RBI for the Regents, going 1-for-3.
Alex Easton worked 7-2/3 innings, giving up two runs off eight hits with five strikeouts.
Kyle Koerner came in to relieve Easton in the bottom of the eighth and earned his third win of the season with one inning of work.
Sidney Atkins then came in for Koerner in the bottom of the ninth with two left on base and forced a pop-up to second base to earn his fourth save on the season.
Lawrence recorded a sacrifice fly as Rockford led 1-0 after the first inning. In the third, Mace reached first on a throwing error, which allowed Taylor to reach home on an unearned run. Edgewood then put a run up on the board in the third with an RBI single through the right side as the Regents led 2-1.
Three scoreless innings later, both teams exploded offensively in the final three innings. Edgewood scored three runs in the seventh, scoring on a sacrifice bunt that ended with a two-RBI single as the Eagles suddenly led 4-2.
The Regents responded with two runs of their own in the top of the eighth when Fabis hit a bunt single, followed by a sacrifice fly by Mace the very next at-bat to tie the game at four. The Eagles regained the lead in the eighth with an RBI single.
Trailing 5-4, Taylor tied the game with an RBI double down the left field line. In the very next at-bat, Lawrence went yard for the 10th time this season, now tying
Kadin Bergstrom with a team-high in home runs in a single season to give the Regents the lead for good.
Game Two: Edgewood 9, Rockford 2
Bergstrom and
Zach Fabis both went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
Zach Duke went 1-for-2.
Bartolo Rodriguez started on the hill, allowing four earned runs off four hits with two innings of action.
Nate Burdin then entered in the third, allowing two runs, two hits, with two strikeouts.
Drake Floden then worked the next three scoreless frames with three strikeouts and allowed just two hits.
Logan Bennett threw the last inning with one strikeout, one run, and one hit.
Edgewood exploded in the second inning, plating five runs. The Eagles scored off three RBI singles, a throwing error, and a wild pitch to build a 5-0 lead.
Unfortunately for the Regents, the bats struggled as Edgewood's offense did not slow down, scoring two more runs in the third with a sacrifice fly and an RBI single, as the Eagles found themselves up 7-0.
Fabis scored the first run for Rockford in the fifth with an RBI single to left field. Edgewood, however, scored twice more after two scoreless innings in the eighth. Bergstrom tallied a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
