River Forest, Ill. - Spotting Concordia Chicago a 3-0 lead after three innings of play, the Illinois Tech baseball team scored six unanswered runs the rest of the way to defeat the host Cougars 6-3 to secure a split in their double header Wednesday afternoon. The Cougars won game two 11-7. The Scarlet Hawks moved to 13-5 in NACC play, and to 19-14 overall. The Cougars are now 8-12 in conference and 19-19 overall. 

The split dropped the Scarlet Hawks into a two-way tie with Benedictine for third place in the conference. However, the Hawks have six more games remaining in conference play, including a home double header against Benedictine next Tuesday. They also hold the tie-breaker with second place MSOE based on the Hawks' double header sweep against the Raiders back on April 10th. The top eight teams make the NACC postseason tournament.

Game One (Illinois Tech 6 - Concordia Chicago 3)
An RBI single by the Cougars Michael Kasik in the bottom of the first staked CUC to an early 1-0 lead. The Cougars extended that lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning after a Tyler Dorsch two-run home run. The Scarlet Hawks got on the board in the top of the fourth inning after a Mason Kim RBI double drove in Lucas Waunn, cutting the Hawks deficit to 3-1. The Hawks would do most of their damage in the top of the fifth inning, scoring four times in the inning to take a 5-3 lead. Samuel Sproule started the damage with a bases-loaded walk to score Tyler Gutsfeld. Michael Lindenmuth would follow with an RBI single, scoring Michael Paxson. After a Lucas Waunn fielder's choice brought home Connor Blake, Jack Friar laid down a bunt single to score Sproule for a 5-3 Hawks lead. The Scarlet Hawks would tack on an insurance run in the top of the 6th off of an RBI single by Blake to complete the game scoring. Austin Richardson earned the victory to move to 3-1 on the season.

Game Two (Concordia Chicago 11 - Illinois Tech 7)
An RBI ground-out by Lindenmuth in the top of the first inning gave the Scarlet Hawks an early 1-0 lead. But the Cougars countered with three runs in their half of the inning, using a pair of RBI singles and a sacrifice fly to take a 3-1 lead. An RBI single by CUC's Tyler Krater and a Kasik RBI double in the second inning pushed the Concordia Chicago lead to 5-1. The Hawks would get a solo run in the top of the third inning, courtesy of a Blake sacrifice fly, to cut their deficit to 5-2. Blake would be front and center for the Hawks in the 5th inning, belting a double to left-center to plate three runs, and tie the score 5-5. Illinois Tech would retake the lead in the 6th inning, with two runs coming across from a Paxson RBI single and a fielder's choice RBI from Sproule, respectively. But the 7-5 lead was short-lived, as Concordia Chicago responded with four runs in their half of the sixth inning to move back on top, 9-7. The Cougars would add some insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning when a Kasik base hit to right field drove in a pair of runs. Phil Trojanowski(2-2) suffered the loss for the Scarlet Hawks.

Scarlet Hawk Standouts(Combined Games)

• Michael Paxson 5-7 with 2 doubles, 3 runs scored, 1 RBI, and 1 walk.
• Connor Blake 3-5 with 3 walks, 1 run scored, and 3 RBI.
• Tyler Gutsfeld 2-6 with 3 runs scored, 2 walks and 1 stolen base.
• Austin Richardson tossed 5.2 innings of 3-run, 5-hit ball with 7 strikeouts for the game one victory.
• Cameron Bracewell with 1.1 innings of no run, no hit relief for the save in game one.
• Brendan Dwyer 2 innings of 2-hit, no earned run ball with 2 strikeouts.

Cougars Watch

• Tyler Dorsch 4-6, including a home run, with 3 RBI and 5 runs scored.
• Tyler Krater 3-6 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.
• Michael Kasik 5-8 with 6 RBI and 2 runs scored.
• Eliot Higgins with two innings of no-run, two-hit ball for the game two victory.
• Bryce Jones with two innings of no-run, one-hit ball with one strikeout.

Up Next
The Scarlet Hawks head north to De Pere, Wisconsin on Saturday, April 27th when they visit St. Norbert for another NACC double header. Game one start time is 12:00 PM.