The Dominican University baseball team snapped an eight-game losing streak with a game one victory over the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors, 7-3, before dropping game two of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) twin bill, 9-4. The split pushes the Stars to 6-15 on the season and 1-5 in league play.
"It comes down to getting the big hit," said
Steve Hardman following the doubleheader. "That was the difference in the two games today. Both games we had ten hits but in the first game we got hits in big situations with runners on base.
Mike Buckley had a big RBI double;
Matt Segovia came through in a big spot; and
Mike Piotrowski came through with a clutch two-run single. In game two we went 3-for-20 with runners on-base and just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position."
Daniel Supple picked up the game one win, tossing eight-plus innings before giving way to
Billy Balatsos after one batter in the ninth. Supple surrendered just three runs, one earned, on ten hits and one walk, relying on his defense and inducing 12 fly outs in pitcher friendly Boomers Stadium. With the win, the senior right-hander improves to 3-1, lowering his earned run average to 3.09.
Dominican's 6-7-8 hitters combined to go 5-for-12 with three extra-base hits and four RBI. Segovia finished 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, a triple and one run batted in. Segovia's triple to lead off the second sparked a two-run rally as Buckley followed with an RBI double and then scored when Nate Natividad singled through the left side of the infield.
After Wisconsin Lutheran trimmed the Stars lead to 3-2 with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth, the Stars broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Brian Costello had an RBI single in the frame while Piotrowski knocked in two with a single to left-center and then scored all the way from first when Segovia doubled off the wall in the left-center gap.
For the Warriors, Curtis Engelbrecht was charged with the loss for the Warriors, surrendering seven runs, three earned, on eight hits and walk through 4.2 innings of work.
KJ Banse and Ryan Stancl collected three hits apiece for the Warriors, including all three of the Warriors' extra-base hits including a solo home run for Banse in the top of the eighth.
In game two, the Warriors opened an 8-1 lead after three innings, chasing the Stars'
Colton Malich from the game after giving up eight runs on seven hits, including a pair of home runs by Joe Hanson.
The Stars cut into the lead, pulling within 8-4 when
Frankie Sessa drove in Costello on a sacrifice fly in the seventh, but stranded a runner in the seventh and eighth before the Warriors' Noah Schriefer slammed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
After three hits in game one, Segovia went 1-for-3 with a solo home run, his second of the season, while Sessa and
KJ Wilk finished with two singles each.
The Stars will take a short break from NACC play on Wednesday, traveling to the University of Chicago to face the Maroons at 3:00 p.m. Dominican then returns to league play on Saturday, hosting the Rockford University Regents for a 2:00 p.m. doubleheader at Boomers Stadium.
