Hawks Lose Close One

CHICAGO, IL - The Men's Baseball team traveled to the Southside of the city Wednesday afternoon to complete their 3 game series with the rival Cougars of Saint Xavier University. The Cougars were able to jump out to an early 2 run lead in the first inning on a homerun.

The Hawks were able to cut the lead in half in the top half of the third inning when Bill O'Toole (Evergreen Park, IL) scored after leading off the inning with a double. Saint Xavier came back with 2 more runs in the bottom portion of the inning giving the a 4-1 lead. The Scarlet Hawks answered back again with a run of their own in the top of the fourth inning as O'Toole drove in Thomas Hotz (Cedar Rapids, IA). Going into the fifth inning the Hawks trailed by 2 runs until Senior Dustin Reznicek (Willowbrook, IL) hit a 3 run homerun to deep left field giving the Hawks their first lead of the game. Unfortunately, the Cougars tied the game back up at 5 in their half of the inning. The score remained tied until the seventh inning, when Saint Xavier took a one run lead. Going into the ninth inning the Scarlet Hawks trailed by two. After putting the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate Reznicek came up driving a ball to deep centerfield that was run down by the Saint Xavier centerfielder ending the game. The Hawks were led offensively by Dustin Reznicek with 3 RBI's and Bill O'Toole who went 2 for 4 scoring a run with an RBI of his own. Patrick O'Brien (Niles, IL) started the game and was relieved by James Dodgen (Flagstaff, AZ) and Branden Schombert (Lockridge, IA). Combined, they only walked 1 batter while striking out 6. The Hawks will resume conference play at home this Friday against Judson University at 3:00. It will be the first game of the weekend 3 game series.