The Valparaiso University baseball team received not one, but two masterful pitching performances on Sunday at Curtis Granderson Stadium in Chicago, but host UIC walked off with a 5-4 victory in 12 innings. Nick Baffa (Glenview, Ill. / Notre Dame College Prep) carved seven innings of one-run ball while striking out six and left in position for the win. UIC tied the game with a three-run homer in the eighth, before Dalton Swinehart (Elkhart, Ind. / Concord) entered the game and kept Valpo alive as he ripped off 4 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run, as the only tally that crossed the dish against him was the unearned, game-winning run in the bottom of the 12^th.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo jumped in front with four runs in the opening inning, climbing out to a 4-0 lead. The Beacons worked four walks in the opening frame, three of which were issued to players who eventually came around to score. Louie Kegerreis (Murrysville, Pa. / Franklin Regional) smoked a two-run double down the first-base line, Thomas Cooper beat the shift with a single through the right side and George Betevis (Hanover Park, Ill. / Bartlett) bounced a ground-rule double over the wall in right center.
• Cooper likely would have scored on Betevis' two-base hit had the ball not bounced over the wall leading to Cooper stopping at third, where he was ultimately stranded as UIC went to the bullpen with one out in the top of the first and Valpo up 4-0, and the Flames got out of the inning without further damage. It was shades of two years ago when an unlucky bounce on a ground-rule double at Curtis Granderson Stadium was the biggest play of an 8-6 Valpo loss as a Carson Husmann double would have tied the game if it weren't for the bounce over the wall.
• Freshman Cal Schembra (Greenwood, Ind. / Center Grove) continued to add to his recent highlight-reel as he laid out in right center to take an extra-base hit away from UIC's Lucas Smith, helping Baffa work a scoreless second after the Valpo righty had retired the side in order in the opening inning.
• UIC relievers retired the first 11 batters they faced, keeping the Valpo lead at four through four. In the bottom of the fourth, UIC had its best chance of the day to that point, loading the bases before Baffa recorded a huge strikeout as the Flames stranded the maximum and the 4-0 advantage remained intact.
• The Valpo middle infield turned an inning-ending double play in the fifth, but UIC got on the board when Ashton Kampa led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo shot to right.
• Baffa finished his day with a 1-2-3 seventh, punctuating his outing with his sixth strikeout to end his final inning of work.  
• Two of the three batters who came to the plate against a Valpo left-handed reliever reached base, and then Valpo brought in a righty, and the first pitch he delivered was launched for a three-run, game-tying home run by Thomas Curry to make it 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth.
• Swinehart was the third Beacon to take the mound in the eighth and retired the first two batters he faced to get out of that inning. He stayed on for the bottom of the ninth and posted a zero with a pair of looking strikeouts, sending the game to extra innings.
• Junior Brayden Pleau (Appleton, Wis. / Kimberly) tripled into the right-field corner to lead off the top of the 11^th, but he was stranded as back-to-back Beacon strikeouts accounted for the first two outs of the frame before UIC shortstop Sean Cody made an incredible play to take a go-ahead single away from Cooper.
• Swinehart put up another zero in the bottom of the 11^th, sending the game to a 12^th frame.
• The Beacons used a leadoff walk and a sac bunt to get a man into scoring position in the top of the 12^th, but he was stranded at second.
• An E6 to lead off the bottom of the 12^th proved costly as that runner eventually scored the winning run on a two-out single.

Inside the Game

• Senior Eli Riley (Zanesville, Ind. / Norwell) extended his on-base streak to 20, becoming the first Valpo player to reach base safely in 20 consecutive games since Ryan Maka did so in 22 straight in 2024.
• Baffa's outing was the longest of the sophomore's collegiate career, outdoing his previous long of five innings on April 4 at Washington. Valpo starting pitchers had career highs in innings pitched in two of the three games this weekend, as Adam Guazzo did so on Friday.
• Baffa struck out six, tying a career high set on April 3 at Alabama State. He allowed just one walk while scattering seven hits with the only run against him coming on a solo homer.
• Swinehart took the tough-luck loss despite a final line that featured 4 1/3 innings of three-hit ball while walking two, striking out six and permitting just one unearned run. His 4 1/3 innings eclipsed his previous season high of 3 2/3, which came in his Valpo debut on Feb. 14 at Gardner-Webb. He had 11 strikeouts total in 18 innings this season and no more than two in any one game before striking out a season-high six on Sunday.
• Valpo pitching recorded a season-high 12 strikeouts with Baffa and Swinehart splitting the dozen evenly at six apiece.
• Valpo left-hander Christian Hack (Oak Forest, Ill. / Tinley Park) snapped a stretch of six straight scoreless outings as he had not been charged with any runs in 6 1/3 innings over his previous six games before Sunday.
• This was Valpo's first extra-inning game since April 6, 2025 vs. Illinois State. This was the team's first time playing at least 11 innings since April 30, 2024 at Western Michigan, a 15-inning nightmare.
• Pleau's triple was his first of the season and his 14^th extra-base hit.
• Betevis had two of the team's six hits and reached base three times. He enjoyed his third multi-hit effort in his last six contests.
• Valpo fell to 1-9 this season and 2-18 over the last two seasons in one-run games.
• UIC's starting pitcher retired only one batter, so the Flames bullpen was forced to work 11 2/3 innings.
• After Saturday's game took only 1 hours, 55 minutes, this one required a lengthy 3 hours, 58 minutes. Saturday was Valpo's shortest game of the season and Sunday was Valpo's longest game of the season.

Up Next
The Beacons (9-26, 2-10 MVC) will host Western Michigan on Tuesday at 3 p.m. with free admission at Emory G. Bauer Field. The game will also air on ESPN+.