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Game Two PDF Box ScoreCHICAGO – Chicago State pitching produced a pair of complete game efforts on Saturday (April 26) at Cougar Stadium in a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader with UTPA. The Cougars won game one 4-2 and lost the nightcap on a chilly evening 1-0.
Game One – Chicago State 4, UTPA 2The Cougars earned a win in game one thanks to the effort of starting pitcher junior
Ean McNeal (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Xavier). He allowed two runs, nine hits, five walks, and struck out six batters. He had a 13.2 scoreless inning streak snapped when UTPA scored their first run of the game in the top of the eighth inning. Over his last two starts McNeal has thrown 17.1 innings, allowing only three runs and 14 hits while recording 10 strikeouts. He is now 3-4 on the year.
Neither team scored until the Cougars plated two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Junior
Robert Swenson (Mason City, Iowa/Mason City), who homered in Friday's game opened the inning with a double off the left-center field wall. The ball was one foot away from being his second homerun of the series. Junior
Jared Patterson (Ventura, Calif./Buena) then singled in Swenson and junior
Mattingly Romanin (Burlington, ONT/Notre Dame) lined a double to the center field wall to score Patterson.
The Cougars added a run in the seventh inning when Romanin was hit by a pitch, and junior
Chase Matheson (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) hit a ground-rule-double over the center field wall that scored Romanin. Swenson then finished the Cougars' scoring in the bottom of the eighth inning with a single that scored senior pinch runner senior
Joelh Calixto (Chicago, Ill./Guerin).
UTPA scored their only runs in the top of the eighth and ninth innings. McNeal left the bases loaded with a strikeout to end the eighth.
The Cougars finished the game with eight hits. Swenson was 2-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI. Patterson and Romanin each went 1-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI. Matheson finished 1-for-4 with an RBI and junior first basemen
Matt Schmidt (Dundee, Ill./Jacobs) finished the game 2-for-3. Freshman
Sanford Hunt (Chicago, Ill./Kenwood), who is the fourth leading hitter in the WAC with a .341 batting average, had the other hit for the Cougars.
UTPA starter Alex Henson took the loss. He went 6.2 innings, allowing six hits and three runs (two earned).
Game Two – UTPA 1, Chicago State 0Saturday's second game was a true pitchers' duel with both starters going the distance. Chicago State's
Eric Hall (Oakville, ONT/Oakville Trafalgar) took the loss to drop his record to 3-3. He allowed six hits, four walks and one run in 9.0 innings. UTPA scored the only run of the game in the top of the seventh inning when Evan Mason singled into right field to score Jesus Garcia from third.
UTPA pitcher Blake English's perfect game was broken up in the sixth on a throwing error by shortstop Jesus Garcia to put Swenson on first. Junior
Jordan Stroschein (Marion, Iowa/Linn-Mar) broke up English's no-hit bid in the bottom of the seventh inning on an infield single. Stroschein hit a high bouncer up the middle that sailed high over English's head. Stroschein reached first just before the throw from UTPA second baseman Bryan Ramirez. English finished the game with one walk, one hit, and five strikeouts. His record improves to 4-3 on the season.
The loss denies the Cougars their second straight series win and drops Chicago State to 14-27 (3-12 WAC). UTPA improves to 19-25 (9-9 WAC). The Cougars next game is at Valparaiso on Tuesday (April 30) at 3 p.m. (CT).
"Both guys (McNeal and Hall) pitched great with two complete games," Chicago State head coach
Steve Joslyn said. "We had good defense, great pitching and just enough timely hitting in game one that we hadn't always had this year. It was a tough day to hit but we scrapped across enough in game one for the win."
Chicago State's win in game one gives the Cougars their most wins in a season (14) since 2001.
