ROCKFORD, Ill. – The MSOE baseball team took their second straight conference split on Saturday with Rockford University, fending off the Regents in game one.
RESULTS
MSOE RAIDERS – 7
Rockford – 6
MSOE RAIDERS - 9
Rockford - 12
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Game One
- Rockford (18-12, 9-8 NACC) put the pressure on early with two runs in the bottom of the first for the quick lead. MSOE (17-13, 12-4 NACC) struck just they like know best in a first and third situation, sending JJ Jackson to second to draw out the Regent defense to let Jake Franks steal home for their first run of the ballgame. The scoreboard was quiet for the next two innings before Joe Stried drew a one-out walk and stole second and Jordan Skolmar brought them both in on a homerun to left center to tie up the ballgame at three.
- The Raiders continued to keep the Regents on their toes when they're on the basepaths as in the seventh inning, Charlie Claas got a good jump to steal third with the ball going over the Regents head and let him race home to take the 4-3 lead. In the top of the eighth, after a pair of runs reached, Franks legged out a potential double-play ball to get Jack Kalitowski in to score to extend the lead to two.
- The bottom half of the inning was when the Regents finally got their offense to click like it did in the first as they tied the game on a two-run triple and then took the lead on a sacrifice fly. After Christian Bosque led off the ninth inning with a walk and steal, AJ Le rippled a double down the left field line to bring him in and quickly tie it back up. Kalitowski took the same play out of Le's playbook, hitting another double down the line to score him and take a 7-6. Kellen Pate, who went the distance in the game on the mound, got the job done to seal things.
- Game Two
- The long ball got the Regents rolling to begin game two, homering in the first and third innings before leading 7-0 by the end of the fourth. Bosque got the Raiders on the scoreboard in the fifth with double scoring Jackson and Claas, but the Regents added one on the bottom half to make it 8-2.
- The Raiders continued to make a push as in the sixth, Kyle Mayberry ripped a double down the line to score Le and Kalitowski to cut the deficit to four. Everything began to click in the seventh after Le started the scoring run with an RBI single to score Stried. Back-to-back RBIs from Kalitowski and Mayberry helped tie the game at eight with Franks getting the first lead of the game 9-8. The Regents didn't shy away as they scored four in the eighth to scrap the momentum the Raiders created to force the split.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
- Game One
- Jordan Skolmar – 1 for 4, 2 RBIs, 1 Run, 1 Home Run
- Jack Kalitowksi – 2 for 4, 2 RBIs, 1 RBI, 1 Run, 1 Walk
- Game Two
WHO'S ON DECK
The Raiders will take on some more non-conference action on Monday, April 21
st, as they host North Park University for a single game at 1:00 PM.
For up-to-the-minute MSOE Raiders news, visit us at
MSOERaiders.com. You can also follow the Red & White on Twitter
@MSOE_Raiders and
@msoe_raiders on Instagram.
