Box Score
Valparaiso jumped out to a five run lead midway through the game
on Thursday evening, but UIC rallied, plating the winning runs in the eighth
inning to defeat the Crusaders 13-10 at Les Miller Field in Chicago, Ill.
Kyle Gaedele
(Arlington Heights, Ill./Rolling Meadows H.S.) and Ryan O’Gara (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Buffalo
Grove H.S.) both had three hits and Gaedele homered twice for the Crusaders,
but the Brown and Gold could not overcome five errors defensively.
“We had the lead and just
gave it away,” head coach Tracy Woodson
said. “We swung the bats well early but
in the last four innings we gave away at bats.
Defense was not very good and that hurt us as well.”
After a 29 minute rain delay
before the start of the game, Valpo found the scoreboard in its first at bat. Justin
Frane (Huntertown, Ind./Carroll H.S.) and Gaedele registered
back-to-back one out singles. After the
two runners moved up 90 feet following a passed ball, Robbie Robinson (Brea,
Calif./Olinda H.S.) loaded the
bases with a two out walk. A bounding
ball up the middle off the bat of Will
Hagel (Arlington Heights,
Ill./Prospect H.S.) was misplayed
by the shortstop for an error, allowing Frane to cross the score. The Crusaders were unable to plate any more
runners in the inning though, stranding the bases loaded.
UIC scored a pair of runs in
the second, both coming with two outs.
Andy Leonard’s single to right scored Chris Rutta to tie the game, and
Leonard scored one batter later on a double to the right-centerfield gap by Ty
Rubio. Two walks later, the Flames
loaded the bases before Bryce Shafer’s
(Wabash, Ind./Northfield
H.S.) third strikeout of the game ended the inning without any more damage.
Gaedele wasted little time
retying the game, taking the second pitch of the third inning and hitting a
blast deep beyond the leftfield wall for his sixth round-tripper of the season. O’Gara followed with a double just inside the
third base bag and moved to third on a single through the right side by
Robinson. Hagel gave Valpo the lead 3-2
with a double just to the left of the 401 mark in dead center, scoring O’Gara
and moving Robinson to third. With one
out Karch Kowalczyk (Peru, Ill./La Salle-Peru H.S.) drew a walk to load the bases,
chasing UIC starter Michael Heesch from the mound. Damon
McCormick (Louisville, Ky./Saint Xavier H.S.) then added to the
lead with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Robinson, and giving the Crusaders a
4-2 advantage after two-and-a-half innings.
The Flames answered with
three runs of their own in the bottom of the third to retake a 5-4 lead. A single to center by Leonard with the bases
loaded scored the first run and two more runs scored on a bunt single by Steve
McGuiggan combined with a throwing error by Shafer.
Valpo’s offense picked back
up with two outs in the fourth. O’Gara
went the opposite way with his fifth homerun of the year to tie the game at
five. Robinson followed with a single
into left-center and Hagel followed with a double to the same gap that found
its way to the wall, scoffing Robinson to give the Crusaders a 6-5 lead.
The Brown and Gold continued
to add to its lead in the fifth. Kyle Muhlsteff (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza
H.S.) hit a ball deep that the leftfielder Rutta jumped for, only to have the
ball bounce off of his glove and over the fence for a two-run homer, giving
Valpo an 8-5 lead. After a walk to David Klein (Aurora, Ill./Oswego
East H.S.), Gaedele hit a ball to left-center that also ricocheted off of
Rutta’s glove and over the fence for his second homer of the game.
UIC bounced back in the
bottom of the fifth, all with two outs.
Back-to-back doubles by Rubio and McGuiggan scored a run and Jason Ganek
followed with a RBI single. Another RBI
hit by Matt Serna and a throwing error by Muhlsteff allowed two more runs to
score, pulling the Flames within 10-9 and ending the day for Shafer. Tyler
Deetjen (Saint Charles,
Ill./East H.S.) came on to get
the final out of the fifth, preserving the lead.
The Flames tied the game in
the sixth as Rubio’s single up the middle scored Andy Leonard with two outs.
UIC took the lead in the
bottom of the eighth as Joe Betcher drew a two out walk. He then took off for second and Deetjen’s
pick off attempt sailed into the dirt, allowing Betcher to race around and
score the go ahead run. Two singles and
a McGuiggan double later, and the Flames added two more insurance runs heading
into the ninth. Valpo went down in order
one last time, failing to score in each of the last four innings.
Valpo finished the game with
14 hits, all of which came from the top six hitters in the Crusader
lineup. McGuiggan and Rubio led UIC’s
16-hit attack with four hits each with McGuiggan also driving home four runs.
Brad Riegler earned the win
(3-2) in relief for the Flames, pitching the final 6.2 innings. Deetjen suffered the loss (3-3) for the
Crusaders, working the final 3.1 innings.
Valparaiso (21-29, 8-9 Horizon) and UIC (21-27, 14-8) are
scheduled to wrap up the 2010 regular season on Friday with a doubleheader at
Les Miller Field. First pitch of game
one is set for 1:05 p.m.