Each team hit three home runs in Friday's series opener as the Valparaiso University baseball team came up a run shy in an 8-7 defeat to Belmont at Emory G. Bauer Field. Freshman Cal Schembra (Greenwood, Ind. / Center Grove), junior Louie Kegerreis (Murrysville, Pa. / Franklin Regional) and redshirt freshman Javin Gauthier (De Pere, Wis. / De Pere) all homered for the Beacons.
 
How It Happened

• Belmont scored the first run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the first. Two soft singles started the inning, eventually leading to a run.
• After the first two Bruins of the game reached base, Valpo starting pitcher Adam Guazzo (Huntley, Ill. / Huntley) sent down 11 straight batters, as he would not surrender another hit until a two-out double in the fourth. By that time, Valpo had taken a 2-1 lead, as Schembra led off the bottom of the third with a 396-foot home run before a sac fly by Gauthier put the Beacons in front.
• The Valpo center fielder made a sprawling attempt on a looping line drive to center, the ball bounced past him, and the left fielder backing up the play slipped, allowing Nate Webb to get all the way to third with a leadoff triple to start the top of the fifth. He crossed the dish a moment later on a squeeze bunt to tie the game at two.
• Redshirt junior Thomas Cooper (Brentwood, Tenn. / Ravenwood) singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth, stole third and scored as the catcher's throw sailed into left field, putting Valpo ahead 3-2.
• Guazzo fired a 1-2-3 sixth, and he got two strikeouts in the seventh prior to a key spot with two outs and two on with Valpo clinging to a 3-2 lead. Belmont's Charlie Davis hit a first-pitch, three-run homer to put the Bruins ahead 5-3.
• Guazzo walked off the mound trailing, but still had a chance to be the winning pitcher as the team picked him up by regaining the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Michael Kuska (Pontiac, Ill. / Pontiac Township) laid down a squeeze bunt to make it a one-run game, then Gauthier hit a go-ahead, two-run shot on a ball that was nearly caught by the right fielder and just cleared the right-field wall to put Valpo back in front at 6-5.
• Valpo still led 6-5 with two outs in the top of the eighth, but Jake Maddox drilled a go-ahead, two-run homer to rearrange the scoreboard. Michael Lareau led off the top of the ninth with a home run that expanded the Belmont edge to 8-6. That insurance run proved to be the difference in the game.
• With one away in the bottom of the ninth, Kegerreis cracked one nearly 400 feet, moving the Beacons within a run, but that's where the score stood as the next two outs were recorded.

Inside the Game

• Kegerreis hit the 15^th home run of his collegiate career and his first in a Valpo uniform.
• Gauthier and Schembra each smacked their sixth home run of the season, tied for second on the team. Gauthier homered for the second consecutive game.
• As a team, Valpo tied a season high for home runs with its fourth three-homer game of the season.
• The Beacons owned a 10-9 edge in the hit column, but they stranded eight on base while Belmont left just three on base.
• Valpo pitching issued just one walk while recording nine strikeouts on Friday.
• Guazzo worked a career-high seven innings while tying a career high with seven strikeouts, equaling his high from May 12, 2024 at Murray State. Over his last two starts, Guazzo has worked 13 1/3 innings and allowed no walks while striking out 13.
• Kegerreis and Cooper led the team with two hits apiece.  
• Redshirt senior Eli Riley (Zanesville, Ind. / Norwell) walked twice, extending his on-base streak to 22.
• Valpo fell to 1-10 this season and 2-19 over the last two seasons in one-run games. Valpo is 0-6 in league games dictated by a single run, as six of their 11 Missouri Valley Conference defeats have come by the slimmest of margins.

Up Next
The Beacons (9-28, 2-11) and Bruins will continue the three-game series on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Emory G. Bauer Field.