Lakers Lose Momentum In CCAC Setback

JOLIET, Ill. – Roosevelt's bats fell quiet at the wrong moment as it fell 6-5 to St. Francis on Thursday in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup in Joliet.

The Lakers (16-8, 5-3  CCAC) came out ready to explode on offense with four hits and two runs in the top of the first inning. Bryce Hayman led off with a single into right field then moved up to second base when the St. Francis pitcher could not stop his delivery in time and chucked the ball to the backstop as he was losing his grip. Sean Blanchard sent a sharp liner up the middle to put runners on the corners for Hunter Darst.

Before Darst could lift his bat off his shoulders, Hayman took advantage of a failed pickoff attempt at first base and scored as the ball bounced away from the first baseman. Darst eventually sent a double into the left field corner to advance Blanchard to third, which set up Sherman Martin's RBI single through the right side of the infield to give Roosevelt a 2-0 lead. The Lakers nearly added to the advantage, but Jaylen Heard was caught looking at strike three to end the inning with a pair of runners in scoring position.

The stranded base runners were an unfortunate theme for Roosevelt in the early innings as the Lakers ended the game with nine runners left on base. In the fourth inning, Darst just missed on a 3-2 offering and ended up popping up to the second baseman, which left the bases loaded after Roosevelt took a 4-2 lead earlier in the frame. Roosevelt also left runners on base in the fifth and sixth innings before failing to create enough two-out magic in the ninth.

St. Francis responded immediately to the Lakers taking the 2-0 lead by scoring two in the bottom of the first off Kerry Zeese. The senior walked the opening batter on four pitches then gave up a single, and both runners scored on a sharply-hit single up the middle two batters later. Zeese found more trouble in the second after allowing the Fighting Saints to load the bases, but escaped with a pair of fly outs to preserve the 2-2 tie.

Roosevelt's offense was able to manufacture a run in the third inning and one more in the fourth to reclaim the lead. Daniel Gutierrez eased into second base with a leadoff double in the third then moved up 90 feet on Blanchard's single through the left side. Darst nearly scored both of them with a towering shot to center field, but the St. Francis outfielder was able to rush back to catch the near-certain extra-base hit and limit the Lakers to just Gutierrez scoring on the tag-up. Hayman legged out an RBI triple with two outs in the fourth to score Heard after a leadoff single before Roosevelt left the bases loaded.

Zeese was able to work around small trouble in the third and fourth innings, but he made a critical mistake that allowed the Fighting Saints to tie the game in the fifth. After a Gutierrez error allowed the leadoff batter to reach, Zeese caught too much of the plate with his offering and St. Francis sent a shot to left field to tie the game. The Fighting Saints then took the lead with a double into the gap in left center field, but the Lakers were able to throw out the runner trying to extend the hit into a triple to escape further damage.

Gutierrez gave Roosevelt some life in the ninth inning with a solo homer of his own, finishing the day 2 for 3 at the plate with two runs scored. Darst then kept the inning alive with his second hit of the day, but courtesy runner Jack Kieffer was barely thrown out on Martin's hard grounder to the second baseman for the game's final out. Blanchard and Hayman also ended up with two hits each, so the first four hitters in the Roosevelt lineup finished with eight of the team's 10 hits in the loss.

The Lakers and Fighting Saints will complete the three-game series Sunday with a doubleheader at Ozinga Field in Crestwood beginning at noon.