The Dominican University baseball team improved to 8-8 on the season and 2-0 in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play with a doubleheader sweep of the Rockford University Regents on Saturday in Rockford.  The Stars rallied for four runs in the ninth to steal the series opener 4-3 before capitalizing on five Regent errors to take game two, 8-5.
 
"We were dead in the water for the first eight innings and then caught fire in the ninth," said Steve Hardman, the Stars' head baseball coach. "We really didn't have any quit and I was happy with the fact that we fought hard. We had two really good starts from our freshman [Hayden] Young and [Bryant] Bagshaw that allowed us to get deep in the game and not tax our bullpen.  That puts us in a good position for Sunday as we didn't have to use our bullpen much.  We still got a lot of things to work on, but it is always nice to start conference with two wins."
 
The Stars will return home to host the MSOE Raiders for a NACC doubleheader on Sunday.  First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. at Schaumburg Boomers Stadium.
 
Game One: Dominican 4, Rockford 3
 
Trailing 3-0 heading to the top of the ninth, the Stars plated four runs on five hits and one Rockford error to score a 4-3 come-from-behind victory.  Freshman Tyler Kara picked up the win on the mound, working a scoreless eighth inning out of the bullpen before Austin Michals came on to pick up his fourth save of the season.
 
For the Stars, Hayden Young got the game one start, surrendering just three runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out six.  The freshman right-hander gave up an unearned run in the first and two in the third before settling in, allowing just four base runners over the next four innings.
 
After Kara worked around a one-out double in the eighth, the Stars' bats sprang to life in the ninth.  Tyler Trojan jump-started the rally with a leadoff single.  After Ryan Simak worked a walk, Johnny Condron belted a double to right, plating Trojan and putting the tying run in scoring position at second.  Frankie Sessa followed with an RBI single to score Simak before Mike Piotrowski tied the game at 3-3 with an RBI single.  Brandon Diedrich then picked up the eventual game-winning hit when he singled to right, scoring Sessa when the ball was mishandled in the outfield.
 
Michals retired the first two hitters in the ninth before the Regents manage to load the bases with a single, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.  Michals then settled back down, getting the final hitter to ground out softly to Trojan at second.
 
The Stars managed nine hits in the win, including a 2-for-5 performance at the plate for Piotrowski.
 
Game Two: Dominican 8, Rockford 5
 
Freshman Bryant Bagshaw improved to 4-0 on the season, surrendering five runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out eight over seven innings.  The rookie then handed the ball over to classmate Brandon Lozano who tossed the final two innings, working around two hits and a walk to pick up his first career save.
 
The Stars jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first only to see Rockford come back and plate two runs in the bottom of the second.
 
Dominican answered in the fifth with an RBI single by Sessa who has now reached base in all of Dominican's 16 games this season.  The Stars added a run later in the inning when Diedrich grounded into a fielder's choice with Condron able to come home when the Regents threw the ball away at first.
 
Rockford took their first lead of the game in the fifth, getting to Bagshaw for three runs after the rookie issued a leadoff walk and then hit the next batter.
 
The Dominican offense battled back for two runs in the sixth.  It was Trojan again providing the spark, legging out a one-out double to the gap in left-center.  After a single by Kevin Evans put runners at the corners, Simak delivered an RBI single that turned into two runs when the Regents could not handle a throw, allowing Evans to come around all the way from first.
 
After Bagshaw pitched around a single in the bottom of the sixth, the Stars' tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh.  With runners at second and third and two outs, Trojan legged out an infield single, scoring both Diedrich and Camron Stafford.
 
In total, Dominican scored five unearned runs on five Rockford errors.  Trojan went 3-for-4 in game two with a double and an RBI while Simak and Stafford collected two hits apiece.