The Dominican University baseball team salvaged a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) doubleheader split, walking off a 7-6 winner in game two after dropping game one 9-2 to the MSOE Raiders.  With the split, the Stars move to 9-9 on the season and 3-1 in NACC play.  The Stars had to rally from a 5-0 deficit in game two, including plating three runs in the bottom of the ninth, to pick up the series split.
 
"I challenged our guys to have a quick start and build off that," said Steve Hardman, the Stars' head baseball coach, "but we kind of fell asleep offensively and dug ourselves a hole.  We had to rebound for game two to be able to win a weekend.  We did a great job coming from behind and putting up a three-spot in the ninth.  Noah Loeffler was huge for us out of the bullpen—throwing up some zeros to give a chance to fight back into the game.  Ultimately going 3-1 on the weekend puts us in a good position after the first week of conference play.  If you have enough of those weekends, you put yourself in a good spot to be in the conference tournament."
 
Dominican will continue to navigate NACC play next weekend, traveling to Lisle for a twin bill at Benedictine University on Saturday before returning to Boomers Stadium on Sunday for a two-game set with the Aurora University Spartans.  First pitch for both series is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
 
Game One: MSOE 9, Dominican 2
 
Dominican picked up where it left on Saturday, taking an early 2-0 lead before the Raiders scored nine unanswered runs to take game one of the NACC doubleheader, 6-2.  Freshman right-hander Tyler Kara took the loss, working 1.2 innings of relief, to fall to 2-2 on the season after picking up yesterday's game one win out of the pen against Rockford.
 
The Stars plated two in the first, staking freshman right-hander Trevor Fulmer to a 2-0 lead.  Mike Piotrowski yanked an RBI double down the third baseline, scoring Johnny Condron and Frankie Sessa then came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Brandon Diedrich.
 
The Raiders took advantage of a pair of Dominican errors, plating unearned runs off of Fulmer in the third and fourth innings, evening the game at 2-2.
 
The game remained tied into the eighth until the Raiders scored a pair of runs to take a 4-2 lead.  Kara, on in relief of Fulmer, got the first hitter of the inning to bounce out to short before Nick Gross reached on a dropped third strike.  After a walk, Kevin Evans kept the game tied for the moment, cutting down Jeromy Schultz, on to run for Gross, at the plate when Andres Oselio singled to right-center.  The Raiders then got a big two-out, two-run single from Adam Graham after a walk loaded the bases.
 
Kara managed to minimize the damage, getting Josh Beier looking at strike three.  However, after the Stars went down in order in the bottom of the eighth, the Raiders tacked on a five insurance runs in the top of the ninth, capping the game's scoring.
 
In total, Dominican managed six hits, only four of which came after the first inning.  Piotrowski and Condron finished with two hits apiece while Tyler Trojan and Evans logged one hit apiece.
 
Fulmer lasted seven innings, allowing just two unearned runs on three hits and two walks while striking out six.
 
Game Two: Dominican 7, MSOE 6
 
The Raiders staked freshman right-hander Tyler Gronert to a 2-0 lead before the rookie even took to the mound in his first conference start, using two hits, including an infield single and three walks off Dominican's Seth Hoffman in the top of the first.
 
Dominican threatened in the home half of the first, loading the bases with nobody out but could not push anyone across with Gronert getting Piotrowski on strikes before Diedrich's looping liner was caught by a diving Oselio and Mike Buckley bounced into a fielder's choice.
 
The Raiders' bats then got back to work, scoring another pair of runs on a two-out, run-scoring double from Ryan Kocher followed by an RBI single from Gross.
 
After the Raiders tacked on a run in the top of the fourth, Dominican managed to cut into the MSOE lead into the bottom of the inning, scoring a pair of runs when Ryan Simak singled up the middle with the bases loaded, scoring Trojan and Buckley.  After a walk loaded the bases again, Sessa lined a single to right just out of the reach of Oselio, bringing home two more for Dominican.
 
In the top of the fifth, Hoffman walked the first two hitters, ending the freshman's day on the mound. In total, Hoffman surrendered five runs on six hits and seven walks while striking out three in four-plus innings of work. Noah Loeffler came on in relief, escaping the jam with a strikeout and a fly out before a spectacular catch in shallow left field by third baseman Bryant Bagshaw ended the inning.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Dominican threatened, putting runners at the corners with a pair of infield singles before a 6-4-3 double play helped the Raiders escape the inning with the lead intact.
 
MSOE then added to the lead in the top of the seventh, scoring when Brandon Beauchamp tripled down the right field line, scoring Aaron Trattner who lead off the inning with a walk.  Loeffler escaped further damage, getting Noah Ernst on strikes after falling behind in the count 3-1 to end the inning.
 
Dominican's ninth inning rally started when Sessa reached on a throwing error with one out.  Piotrowski followed with a single to center.  After Diedrich popped out for the second out of the inning, a wild pitch pushed the runners to second and third, putting the tying run into scoring position.  After Camron Stafford walked as a pinch-hitter, Trojan lined a single to left to tie the game.  Bagshaw then walked to load the bases, chasing the Raiders' Noah Davison from the ballgame.  With Cole Raines on in relief, Evans fell behind in the count, 1-2, before working a seven-pitch walk to send the Stars home winners.
 
Loeffler picked up the win out of the bullpen to improve to 1-1, working five innings of three-hit baseball while surrendering just one run and one walk while striking out four.
 
For the Raiders, Davison was tagged with the loss, allowing three unearned runs over 4.2 innings of work.
 
Both teams managed nine hits in the nightcap.  MSOE took eight walks while the Stars worked nine walks, the ninth proving to be the difference.
 
For Dominican, Simak and Bagshaw had two hits apiece with Simak driving in two runs and scoring another while Bagshaw was on base a team-high four times with four walks.