Chicago, Ill. - Illinois Tech baseball had to wait an extra day for their conference and home opener, as cold weather pushed their double header against Marian from Saturday to Sunday. When the final pitch was thrown late Sunday afternoon at Ed Glancy Field, the Scarlet Hawks earned a hard-fought split with the Sabres to start conference play, dropping the opener 10-2 but winning game two 8-3. The Scarlet Hawks improved to 4-10 overall, and start 1-1 in NACC play. Marian moves to 7-5 on the season, and 1-1 in conference.

The Scarlet Hawks used a mix of power, base-stealing and a solid outing by starter Cameron Bracewell to take game two, and earn the split. The Hawks had five extra-base hits, including  three home runs, and stole seven bases, while Bracewell went seven innings, throwing 112 pitches, allowing only two earned runs on 6 hits, while striking out eight Sabres.

In the opener, the Scarlet Hawks could never recover from a five-run Marian outburst in the top of the first inning. While the Sabres only had eight hits in the contest, the Hawks issued eight walks and hit a batter, while the defense had three errors, leading to two unearned runs.

Game One (Marian 10 - Illinois Tech 2)
Marian opened game one with a five-spot in the top of the first inning, taking advantage of a hit batter, two walks, a wild pitch, and two run-scoring hits to take a 5-0 lead after a half-inning. The Hawks scratched a run across in the bottom of the second inning, when Connor Blake came around to score on a fielder's choice after drawing a lead-off walk to start the inning. Marian tacked on three more runs in the top of the fourth inning. The Sabres worked three walks in the inning, while taking advantage of a Hawks' fielding error, a wild pitch, and a run-scoring single. The Hawks played small-ball in the bottom of the fifth to plate a run. Samuel Sproule led off the inning with a single, stole second base, moved to third on a fielder's choice, and scored on a Sabres' fielding error, cutting their deficit to 8-2. A pair of RBI singles by the Sabres completed the scoring in the opening game. Marian's Riley Richard went the distance for the Sabres, pitching seven innings, allowing only two runs and six hits, striking out four batters while improving his record to 3-0. Joseph Belflower(0-1) suffered the loss for the Scarlet Hawks.

Game Two (Illinois Tech 8 - Marian 3)
The Scarlet Hawks turned the tables on the Sabres in game two, using a four-run first inning to grab an early 4-0 lead. The Hawks belted two home runs in the inning: a solo shot by Tyler Gutsfeld and a two-run homer by Mason Kim. Michael Paxson also scored in the inning after a Sabres' passed ball. Marian responded in the top of the second inning. A leadoff home run cut their deficit to 4-1. Successive errors on one play led to the Sabres additional run in the inning. But Bracewell was able to limit the damage. With runners on second and third with one out, Bracewell had a strikeout and made a great grab on a line shot up the middle for the final out, preventing two runs from scoring for Marian. The Sabres added a run in the top of the fifth inning on a Scarlet Hawks' throwing error, cutting the Hawks lead to 4-3. But Illinois Tech would answer back immediately in the bottom half of the inning. After a Paxson leadoff walk, Connor Blake blasted a shot over the left-field wall for a two-run home run, giving the Hawks a 6-3 lead. After Marian went scoreless in the top of the sixth inning, the Hawks added on in the bottom half of the frame. A pair of singles by Lucas Wuann and Matthew Bove, sandwiched around a Sproule sacrifice bunt, put runners on the corners with one out. After a Marian pitching change, the Scarlet Hawks pulled off a double-steal against the new Sabres' pitcher on his first pitch attempt, with Bove breaking for second base while Wuann stole home. Gutsfeld followed with an RBI single to bring home Bove with the second and final run of the game, putting the Hawks out front 8-3. Bracewell went seven innings for the win to even his record at 1-1. Hunter Netzler(1-2) took the loss for Marian.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts

• Tyler Gutsfeld 4-9, batting .444 with a home run, one run scored, and 2 RBI, with a .778 slugging percentage. He also had two stolen bases, along with nine putouts without an error in center field, with an outfield assist.
• Connor Blake 2-6 with a home run, 3 runs scored and 2 RBI with a .500 on-base percentage and an .833 slugging percentage.
• Mason Kim 2-7 with a home run, 3 RBI and one run scored, slugging .714
• Cameron Bracewell with 7 innings of two-run, six-hit ball in game two, with 8 strikeouts.
• Philip Trojanowski with two innings of no run, 1 hit allowed in relief.
• Brendan Dwyer with two and one-third innings of no run, 1 hit allowed in relief.

Sabres Watch

• Riley Richard went the distance for the Sabres in game one, pitching seven innings, allowing only two runs and six hits, striking out four batters while improving his record to 3-0.
• Logan Rademan 3-6 with two runs scored, along with 3 putouts and 3 assists from his third base position.

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks resume NACC play this Wednesday, when they travel to Beloit, Wisconsin to take on the Rockford Regents in double header action. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 12:00 PM.