Hayman's Big Day Not Enough For Lakers Against St. Ambrose

CRESTWOOD, Ill. – Roosevelt could not find enough timely hits or strikeout pitches to avoid being swept by St. Ambrose in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader Saturday at Ozinga Field in Crestwood.

The Lakers (19-15, 8-10 CCAC) had no problems hitting the ball against the Fighting Bees, accumulating 27 hits across the two games. However, Roosevelt left 13 runners on base in a 7-6 setback in the opener against St. Ambrose then stranded 12 men on the basepaths in a 14-8 loss in the second half of the doubleheader. Across the 16 innings in which the Lakers came to the plate Saturday, six times they had a runner on third when the final out was recorded.

One of the lone bright spots was center fielder Bryce Hayman, who finished the day 8 for 9 with a homer, two doubles and four runs scored while also reaching base twice via walks. The Lakers had four other players record multiple hits in the first game of the doubleheader, but none of them had more than one hit in the second half of the day. Ben Compton went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and a pair of walks in the second game to add to the Lakers offense.

Although the Lakers left a lot of opportunities on the basepaths, the offense was finding ways to push across runs in the opener. The Fighting Bees took a 4-0 lead in the second inning with six of the first seven batters who faced Noah Mathias able to smack a hit. The bottom half of the frame was one of the few times the Lakers threatened against St. Ambrose but didn't score, leaving the bases loaded after Jack Toenjes reached on an infield single.

Roosevelt received a big boost from Luca Paolucci as a defensive replacement in the third inning as he fired a laser to Diego Munoz on a single down the left-field line, and the Lakers third baseman unleashed a dart to Sean Blanchard to nab the St. Ambrose runner trying to score from first. In what became a theme throughout the day, Hayman doubled to start the bottom of the third then scored on Hunter Darst's double into the gap in left center.

The Lakers put up a run in every inning after the second as they slowly chipped away at the Fighting Bees' advantage. Blanchard led off the bottom of the fourth with a homer to left field after Mathias threw a perfect top half of the inning. A pair of two-out hits increased the St. Ambrose lead to 5-2, but Blanchard responded in the bottom of the fifth with a single that allowed Sherman Martin to score after he led off the frame with a single.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Lakers finally were able to tie the game after Jojo Mack and Hayman drew walks to lead off the frame. Jesus Gomez laid down the well-executed sacrifice bunt to move the runners up 90 feet then Darst and Munoz followed with back-to-back singles to tie the game. Unfortunately, the tie didn't last as St. Ambrose came to life to score twice in the top half of the seventh to put the pressure back on Roosevelt.

Roosevelt quickly loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the last inning and Compton delivered with an RBI single to right field. But Martin's grounder up the third base line was easily fielded by the St. Ambrose third baseman, who stepped on the bag then fired to first for the game-ending double play.

The second game of the day started out poorly for the Lakers and they were never able to find level footing the rest of the way. Connor Houlahan walked the only two batters he faced while earning his third start of the season, issuing eight balls to one strike among his nine pitches. Bryan Green came on to limit the damage to just those two walks coming around to score, but that proved to be too big of a hole.

St. Ambrose tacked on two more runs in the top of the second before the Roosevelt offense sprung to life. Jaylen Heard took the second pitch he faced over the fence in left center field to lead off the frame then the Lakers added a second on an errant pickoff throw that allowed Compton to saunter in from third base. Toenjes delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the third to close the gap to 4-3, but St. Ambrose added a pair in the top of the fourth on double to the gap in right center field. The Lakers responded immediately with Munoz driving a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Paolucci then Darst driving a triple into right field to score Hayman.

The 6-5 scoreline was as close as the Lakers would come to the Fighting Bees over the final half of the contest as St. Ambrose added three runs in the sixth, one in the eighth and four in the ninth to seal the deal. Meanwhile, the Lakers squandered their chance to put some more pressure on St. Ambrose in the bottom of the seventh.

Toenjes led off with a walk then went first to third on a single from Compton. Paolucci hit a sacrifice fly to score Toenjes before Hayman pounded a double to put runners on second and third with one out in a 9-6 game. Yet the new pitcher for St. Ambrose was able to strike out not only the two batters he faced in the seventh then all three he faced in the eighth. The hurler also recorded two strikeouts in the ninth, but sandwiched them around solo home runs from Compton and Hayman for the final score.

Roosevelt returns to the field Wednesday to finish its series from earlier this season with Trinity International. The Lakers and Trojans will square off in Deerfield with first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m.