Valparaiso University baseball starting pitcher Adam Guazzo (Huntley, Ill. / Huntley) had his best day in a Beacon uniform, tossing 6 1/3 shutout innings and leaving with nobody on base and one out in the seventh, but host UIC rallied after his departure to beat the Beacons 4-3 on Friday at Curtis Granderson Stadium in Chicago.
 
How It Happened

• Guazzo worked six up, six down over the first two innings. UIC mounted its first threat in the third, lashing out three hits to load the bases with one away. Guazzo recorded his fifth strikeout of the day for the second out, then with the bases loaded and two down, the third baseman and pitcher collided on a pop fly and the ball dropped, but the batter was not running the ball out and Guazzo threw to first for the final out of the inning.
• After Louie Kegerreis (Murrysville, Pa. / Franklin Regional) led off the fourth with a double, Cal Schembra (Greenwood, Ind. / Center Grove) went the other way with a 387-foot home run over the left-field bullpen to make it 2-0 Beacons. Later in the inning, Gavin Bennett (Libertyville, Ill. / Libertyville) grounded a run-scoring single to right, extending the lead to 3-0.
• Guazzo flipped a scoreless bottom of the fourth, then went back out for the fifth and worked out of a runner-at-third, nobody out jam with no runs across thanks to Javin Gauthier (De Pere, Wis. / De Pere) getting the lead runner into a rundown on a sharp ground ball to third.
• Guazzo retired the side in order in the sixth, then got the first out of the seventh on a nice catch by Schembra. Guazzo left after 6 1/3 shutout innings, his best outing in a Valpo uniform.
• Right after Guazzo walked off the mound, the UIC bats came to life. A walk, single and RBI double from the six through nine batters in the order made it 3-1, then a two-run single by leadoff man Will Flannigan leveled the score at three through seven.
• The bottom of the eighth began with an infield single on a close play at first. The play was reviewed, but the umpires decided that the ruling on the field stood. That proved to be a big call as later in the inning, that runner crossed the dish to put UIC ahead 4-3 with what proved to be the game-winning run.

Inside the Game

• Valpo featured the exact same starting lineup (batting order and positions) as its previous game on Tuesday vs. Notre Dame, including the starting pitcher. The last part of that makes that a rather uncommon occurrence in baseball.
• Schembra's home run was his fifth of the season and first since April 2 at Washington.
• Guazzo's 6 1/3 innings marked a career long, outdoing his previous long of six innings on March 8, 2024 at The Citadel.
• Guazzo struck out six and walked none while yielding just five hits. His six strikeouts were one shy of his career high of seven, set on May 12, 2024 at Murray State. He worked 7 1/3 innings without issuing a walk this week, counting his inning on Tuesday at Notre Dame.
• Eight of the nine Valpo batters had at least one hit, and Bennett led the team with two.
• There was only one total walk issued in the game by both teams.
• Valpo fell to 1-8 this season and 2-17 over the last two seasons in one-run games.

Up Next
The Beacons (9-24, 2-8 MVC) and Flames will continue the series at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Curtis Granderson Stadium in Chicago. The game will air on ESPN+.