LISLE, Ill. – Don't be deceived by the Edgewood College baseball team's overall record. They've been tested by a killer non-conference schedule and are ready to take aim on the Northern Athletics Conference. The Eagles were in full statement mode on Saturday with a doubleheader sweep over league leader Benedictine University. The Eagles took both games, winning 5-4 and 12-9.
In the first game, Nate Averill set the tone for the day. The Edgewood College freshman gave up a solo home run in the first inning and then proceeded to blank Benedictine (14-6, 5-3 NAC) for the next six frames. Averill went on to throw his first career complete game victory surrendering just two earned runs on 10 hits with one strikeout.
Edgewood College (5-13, 3-1 NAC) scored three times in the first inning to gain control of the game. After Andrew Lauritzenwalked, Alex Jaskulski reached on a fielder's choice and Jake Zadra singled to load the bases, Marc Ostrowski got plunked with a pitch from Benedictine starter Kevin Crowley to bring in the first run of the game. Brad Clark followed with an RBI groundout and the third run scored on a fielding error off the bat of Zack Creekmore.
The scored remained 3-1 all the way until the eighth inning, when Benedictine pushed a run across to make the score 3-2 in favor of Edgewood College. In the ninth, a two-out Benedictine error opened the door for a pair of insurance runs to put the Eagles ahead 5-2. Jaskulski had an RBI single in that inning. Benedictine took advantage of an Edgewood College error to score two in the ninth, but Averill retired John Cervantes with a fly ball to center field to end the game.
Edgewood College had just five hits in the game, all singles, but generated enough runs to win. Jaskulski and Clark each had a hit and an RBI.
In the nightcap, Edgewood College seemed poised to cruise to an easy win until Benedictine rallied back. Edgewood College brought out the lumber early with 13 hits and eight runs in the first three innings. Eric Curtis, Lauritzen and Jaskulski all had runs batted in, in a three-run second inning. Curtis struck gold in the third inning with a huge three-run double down the left field line. Jaskulski added an RBI groundout and the Eagles scored another run on one of Benedictine's eight errors in the game to take and 8-0 lead.
However, Benedictine was not content to lay down and scored in each of the next three innings to tie the game at 8-8 after five innings. Both offenses cooled until a wild ninth inning. After, Curtis reached third on an error, a balk and a wild pitch Lauritzen delivered the go-ahead RBI with a double down the line. With the bases loaded and two outs, Benedictine threw away a potential inning ending force at second base, allowing Jaskulski and Lauritzen to score. Creekmore followed that with an RBI single to give the Eagles a 12-8 lead.
In the ninth inning, Lauritzen came on in relief of Dan Hoppel, who had entered the game in the eighth, with runners on first and second and nobody out. Lauritzen allowed the lead runner to score on a sacrifice fly by Nick Karakosta, but coaxed a ground ball out of Benedictine's Tim Hendricks to end the game and record his first career save.
Creekmore, a sophomore, had a career-high five hits in going 5-for-6. Lauritzen turned in the first four-hit game of his career, including the RBI double which put the Eagles in the lead. Curtis went 2-for-4 and matched a career-high with four runs batted in. Ryan Busse started the game for the Eagles and went 4.1 innings before yielding to the bullpen. Hoppel picked up his first career win in relief.
Edgewood College will return to the Benedictine University Sports Complex tomorrow to face current NAC leader Aurora University. Sunday's games were relocated to Lisle due to unplayable field conditions at the Eagles' home field in Verona. EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com will have live stats for the game, but no video broadcast.