The Dominican University baseball team split a doubleheader with the Cornell College Rams on Saturday in the Stars' home opener at Schaumburg Boomers Stadium. The Rams edged the Stars 9-7 in game one before Dominican scored a season-high 17 runs in a 17-5 win in game two.
The split pushes the Stars to 6-7 overall with the rubber match of the three-game series scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Sunday at Boomers Stadium.
"We really struggled to get guys in," said Steve Hardman, the Stars' head coach after the split. "All the freebies they gave us and we let them off the hook. In game two, I was happy with the way the guys responded right away, putting up eight runs in the first two innings and never looking back. We had another great outing from
Bryant Bagshaw. We were able to put it on cruise control most of the game despite a little hiccup with our bullpen late in the game but overall I am happy with the split."
Game One: Cornell 9, Dominican 7
After the Rams got a run in the top of the first when Caleb Wichman grounded to short allowing John-Michael Osley to score, the Stars plated two runs on five walks and a wild pitch to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second.
Camron Stafford started the carousel with a one-out walk. After a fly out,
Kevin Evans,
Ryan Simak and
Johnny Condron all walked to even the score at 1-1 before Evans came in when Kyler Steinborn uncorked a wild pitch.
After giving up the run in the top of the first,
Hayden Young hung zeros for the Stars for the next five innings before a two-out RBI double by Zach Stone evened the score, 2-2, in the top of the seventh. Young then escaped further damage, getting Osley to line out to center to end the threat.
Dominican answered in the bottom of the seventh.
Frankie Sessa started the rally with a leadoff single to left-center. After a sac bunt and a line out,
Nick Roeper drew a four-pitch walk before Stafford reached on an infield single.
Thomas Ross and Evans were then hit-by-pitches in back-to-back at-bats to bring home Sessa and
Matt Dall who was on to run for Roeper. Dominican then tacked on an insurance run when Simak grounded down the third baseline and Cale Jamesson tried to backhand and could not come up with it, opening a 5-2 lead for the Stars after seven.
Young ran into a spot of trouble in the top of the eighth as Cornell came right back, scoring three runs on five straight hits to start the top of the eighth to even the score at 5-5. The third hit of the inning, an RBI double by Keenan Bryant chased Young from the game. The freshman picked up no decision, surrendering five runs on 11 hits and one walk over seven-plus innings.
Later in the inning, the Rams pulled ahead 6-5 lead when Marcelo Tanon grounded to short with runners at the corners and narrowly beat the throw to first as the Stars tried to turn two. Stone followed with a single to center to extend the Cornell lead to 7-5. Evans helped the Stars save a few runs, ending the inning with a running catch in deep center off the bat of Osley.
Dominican got one run back in the bottom of the eighth when
Mason Baker lined a two-out single to right-center, plating
Sam Bjorklund, on as a pinch runner, from second. A Cornell error, their third of the game, extended the inning, but the Stars left runners at the corners when Ryan Hosch got Ross on strikes, closing the eighth with the Rams on top 7-6.
The Rams tacked on a couple of much-needed insurance runs in the top of the ninth before Adam Tvedt came on for the save in the bottom of the ninth. The right-hander issued a leadoff walk to Evans who eventually came around to score when Bjorklund reached on an error, putting the tying run at first base. After a quick visit at the mound, Baker hit a sinking liner to centerfield that, unfortunately for Dominican, was at Wichman to end the game.
Dominican stranded 17 runners in the contest, thanks to ten walks and eight hits in the loss. Sessa led the offense, going 3-for-5 with a walk. Stafford picked up a pair of hits, going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.
On the mound,
Tyler Kara took the loss, surrendering two runs on three hits over 0.2 innings of work.
Game Two: Dominican 17, Cornell 5
The Stars plated four runs in the bottom of the fourth and added four more in the bottom of the second, staking freshman right-hander Bryant Bagshaw to a huge lead that the Stars would never surrender.
Baker provided the big blow for Dominican, depositing a three-run home run over the fence in right in the four-run second to put the Stars on top 8-0. The next inning, Sessa doubled off the very top of the wall in left as Dominican scored in each of the first six innings, opening a 16-0 lead after six.
Bagshaw kept the Rams off the board until the eighth when five of the first six hitters of the inning reached to chase the rookie from the game. In total the Rams scored five runs on seven hits in the inning but never really threatened the Stars' lead.
Bagshaw improved to 3-0 on the season, allowing four earned runs on ten hits and one walk while striking out six over 7.1 innings of work.
Offensively, the Stars took ten more walks in game two and pounded out nine hits, including two apiece for Baker and Sessa.
