Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Dominican University baseball team split a Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) doubleheader with the Marian University Sabres on Saturday at the Stars’ home diamond at Schaumburg Boomers Stadium.

In game one, the Stars managed just five hits as they fell 8-1 to the Sabres behind starting pitcher Mitch McCaffery (Johnson Creek, Wis.).  McCaffery lasted eight innings, giving up seven runs off of nine hits and three walks while striking out three.  Robert Bavone (Bellwood, Ill.) came into relief for McCaffery in the ninth.  Bavone surrendered one run on one hit, and struck out two Sabres.  McCaffery was tagged with the loss, dropping to 2-2 on the season.

Sam Forkert was the winning pitcher for Marian.  Forkert tossed a complete-game and only surrendered one run off of five hits.

Game two was a slugging festival for the Stars with a light drizzle in the air.  The Stars managed to put up 13 hits in the winning effort, emerging with a 12-2 win behind a seven-run seventh inning.

The Stars got on the board early in the game as Joe Krasny (Berywn, Ill.) singled up the middle in the bottom of the first to drive in Quinlan Milne Rojek (Minneapolis, Minn.) who reached on a leadoff walk. 

Dominican tallied another run in the fourth, capitalizing on a Marian error to score an unearned run.  The Sabres retaliated, putting up two runs in the fifth to knot the score at 2-2.

The seventh inning was when the Stars’ offense kicked into high gear, scoring seven runs on five hits, three hit batsmen, and one walk to make it a 9-2 ballgame.  The big blow of the inning was a two-run double down the left field line off the bat of freshman Lucas McKinney (Arvada, Colo.).

In the eighth, Cody Schuster (Las Vegas, Nev.) smacked a double to right-center to help drive in two Stars.  Varallo then iced the Sabres as he smoked a triple to right center and scored Schuster to end the day in walk-off fashion.

Offensive player of the day for the Stars was Krasny.  Krasny went 6-for-9 on the day with two RBIs, and one extra-base hit.  The impressive bat of Krasny helped boost his batting average to a program high of .352 with an on-base percentage of .406.

Milne Rojek picked up the win for the Stars on the hill.  Milne Rojek tossed 7.2 innings, gave up only two runs off of four hits, punched out five, and walked three. Milne Rojek improved to a 2-1 record with the NAC victory.  Ryan Hoff (Marengo, Ill.) came into the game in the seventh to help capture the final out to end the top of the inning.

The Stars improved to a 7-14 record and a NAC record of 2-4 with the split.  The Stars will have another day of eighteen innings of baseball tomorrow as they take on Wisconsin Lutheran in Milwaukee, Wis.  Game time is set for 1:00 PM for the NAC matchup.