Montgomery, Ill. - Connor Blake clubbed a two-run home run in extra innings, and Phil Trojanowski pitched 2-plus innings of scoreless relief in game two as the Illinois Tech baseball team forged a hard-earned doubleheader split with the host Aurora Spartans Tuesday afternoon with a 13-11 victory. The Scarlet Hawks lost a heart-breaker in game one when the Spartans scored 3 runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to come from behind and win the opener 6-5. The Scarlet Hawks moved to 10-4 in NACC play, and to 14-13 overall. The Spartans are now 12-4 in conference and 22-7 overall. 

The split allowed the Scarlet Hawks to keep pace with Aurora in the conference standings, with MSOE, Marian and Benedictine all bunched up with Illinois Tech and Aurora in the upper half of the conference.

Game One (Aurora 6 - Illinois Tech 5)
An RBI single by Samuel Sproule in the top of the first inning gave Illinois Tech an early 1-0 lead. The Spartans would respond in their bottom half of the first on a bases loaded walk to even the score at 1-1. A sacrifice fly by Aurora in the bottom of the second inning put the Spartans out front 2-1. The Scarlet Hawks would battle back in the third inning to score three runs on a Michael Paxson home run, a Mason Kim RBI double and a Matthew Bove RBI single, for a 5-2 lead. An RBI double by Aurora in the bottom of the third inning cut the Spartans' deficit to 5-3. The Spartans would complete their comeback in the bottom of the 6th inning. A sacrifice fly trimmed the Hawks lead to 5-4. A two-out error by Illinois Tech allowed the tying run to score, and the next Aurora batter hit an RBI double to left center to give Aurora the lead for good, 6-5. Cameron Bracewell(4-3) took the loss for the Scarlet Hawks.

Game Two (Illinois Tech 13 - Aurora 11)
A two-run home run by the Spartans in the 2nd inning of game two staked Aurora out to a 2-0 lead. Illinois Tech would not get on the board until a five-run fourth inning. Michael Lindenmuth reached on a shortstop error to bring in Sproule for the team's first run. After back-to-back strikeouts by the Hawks left them with two outs in the inning, a Jack Fryar single and a Matthew Bove hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for Tyler Gutsfeld, who promptly hit a grand slam for a 5-2 Illinois Tech lead. A solo home run by Aurora in the bottom of the fifth inning cut the Spartans' deficit to 5-3. But in the Scarlet Hawks top half of the sixth inning, a pair of RBI singles by Blake and Sproule, a catcher's error by Aurora and a safety squeeze bunt gave the Scarlet Hawks a 9-3 lead. Aurora would cut the Illinois Tech lead to one with a five-run seventh inning. A sacrifice fly by Sproule and an RBI double by Lindenmuth extended the Hawks' lead to 11-8 in the top of the eighth inning. But Aurora would score three runs in the bottom of the eighth, all with two out, to tie the game at 11. After a scoreless ninth inning, Blake would put the Scarlet Hawks in front with a two-run home run in the top of the tenth inning for a 13-11 lead. Trojanowski(2-1) shut down the Spartans in the bottom of the tenth inning to earn his second win.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts(Combined Games)

• Connor Blake 3-8 with 2 walks, 3 runs scored, 3 RBI and 2 stolen bases. Had the game-winning home run in the top of the 10th inning in game two.
• Tyler Gutsfeld 5-10 with a grand slam, a double, 4 RBI, 3 runs scored.
• Michael Paxson 4-7 with a home run, 3 runs scored, 1 RBI, 3 walks and 2 stolen bases.
• Samuel Sproule went 3-8 with a double, 3 RBI, 3 runs scored and 2 stolen bases.
• Michael Lindenmuth 3-8 with an RBI and a run scored.
• Phil Trojanowski with 2.1 innings of no run, two-hit ball and the win in relief in game two.

Spartans Watch

• Nico Bermeo 4-9 with 2 home runs, a double, 5 RBI, 3 runs scored.
• Logan Riley 4-7 with a home run, 3 runs scored, 2 RBI and 3 walks.
• Sean Rivera 4-7 with 2 RBI, 1 run scored, and 2 walks.
• Sam Harvey with 4 innings of no run, 1-hit ball and 4 strikeouts for the come-from-behind win in game one.

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks will next take the field Thursday, April 18th, when they host Wheaton College at 3:00 PM at Ed Glancy Field in a non-conference makeup game originally scheduled for April 2nd.