MONTGOMERY, ILL.—The Illinois Institute of Technology baseball team hit the road to No. 8 Aurora University (DH) for a Saturday-afternoon affair. Nick Bledsoe's three-run triple in the 11th inning secured the Scarlet Hawks an 11-8 (11 innings) victory over the Spartans in game one. Game two resulted in an 8-5 loss for Illinois Tech.
The Scarlet Hawks improve to 9-3, 4-2 NACC while Aurora exits Saturday with a 19-3, 3-1 NACC mark.
Illinois Tech 11, Aurora 8 (11 innings) (Game One)
The Spartans held a 5-2 lead heading into the fourth inning, where Illinois Tech registered three runs to knot the game at 5-5. Nick Bledsoe tallied his first-of-two triples of the game in the frame, which scored Ted Howell (walk) to narrow Illinois Tech's deficit to 5-3. Bledsoe made the score 5-4 when he scored off Samuel Sproule's double. Matthew Jackson, who followed Bledsoe's triple with a walk, scored when Jacob Sorenson reached on an error to tie the game 5-5.
The Spartans tallied a pair of sixth-inning runs, and one seventh-inning run to take an 8-5 lead before the Scarlet Hawks dug themselves out of their hole in the eighth inning. David Navarro drove in Brandon Bennitt with an eighth-inning double to narrow the score to 8-6, before Sproule's groundout scored Bledsoe to make the score 8-7.
Connor Blake tied the game at 8-8 in the ninth inning when he led off the frame being hit by a pitch. He advanced to second on Bennitt's groundout before he took third on a wild pitch. Blake found home plate on a double-steal to make the score 8-8, thanks to Ted Howell's (walk) swipe of second base.
The 11th inning resulted in a Michael Courtney double, and a Connor Blake hit by pitch that put runners on first and second base. The Spartans' intentional walk of Bennitt loaded the bases for Bledsoe, whose triple cleaned the bases and gave Illinois Tech an 11-8 lead.
Bledsoe went 3-for-6 with two triples, while Bennitt went 3-for-5 at the plate for Illinois Tech. Austin Richardson pitched the first six innings before Roberto Carselle threw the final five innings in the winning decision. They combined to give up eight runs, 10 hits; and strikeout seven batters.
Aurora 8, Illinois Tech 5 (Game Two)
The game was tied 4-4 heading into the sixth inning, where Aurora took the lead for good with three runs en route to an 8-5 victory over the Scarlet Hawks.
Nick Bledsoe was dynamite for Illinois Tech, going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Five other Scarlet Hawks tallied one hit in the contest. Nick Bledsoe notched his third triple of the day in game two.
Ryan Cantlin got the pitching start for Illinois Tech; and gave up 10 hits and seven runs (five earned) over 5 2/3 innings pitched. Cantlin finished the contest with a pair of strikeouts. Samuel Sproule and Wyatt Ronek pitched the final 2 1/3 innings for Illinois Tech.
The Scarlet Hawks will host Aurora (DH) tomorrow, Sunday, April 18 at Ed Glancy Field. First pitch is set for 12:00 p.m.