CHICAGO – Chicago State University baseball opened its home schedule in style Wednesday afternoon as it came back from a one-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning to capture a 3-2 victory over visiting IPFW at Brooks Field.
The visitors broke a scoreless tie in the third inning when Daren Boss lined an RBI single off CSU starting pitcher Eric Hall (Oakville, ONT/Oakville Trafalgar) (Oakville, Ontario) through the left side that scored Markus Kalber from third base for an early 1-0 advantage.
In the fourth inning, the Cougars (2-22) got on the board to even the score at 1-1 after senior Ryan Malhotra (Oakville, ONT/Niagara County CC) (Oakville, Ontario) smacked an RBI single to center field to bring home junior Eric O'Brien (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino) (Tucson, Ariz.) from second after reaching base on a walk.
IPFW (10-21) recaptured the lead at 2-1 in the fifth inning as Kalber led off the stanza with a single to center field off Hall and scored three plays later on Carter DeBoe's RBI sacrifice fly to right field.
The score stayed the same until the Cougars' rally in bottom of the ninth that began with back-to-back singles from senior Albert Carpen (Whiting, IN/Clark) (Whiting, Ind.) and freshman Mattingly Romanin (Burlington, ONT/Notre Dame) (Burlington, Ontario) with no outs before Carpen scored on O'Brien's RBI single to right field to even the score at 2-2. Senior William Hill (Wheaton, Ill./Glenbard South) (Wheaton, Ill.) followed that on the next play with the game-winning hit as he lined an RBI single up the middle to plate Romanin for the win.
Carpen led Chicago State offensively by hitting 3-of-4 and scored a run, while Romanin and Malhotra each contributed two hits. Senior Jose Leon (Chicago, IL/Gwendolyn Brooks) (Chicago, Ill.) threw two scoreless relief innings and recorded a strikeout to capture his first win of the season. Hall finished with five strikeouts on the day despite allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits in six innings of work, and freshman Andrew Wellwerts (Cedar Lake, Ind./Hanover Central) (Cedar Lake, Ind.) recorded two strikeouts in an inning of relief for the Green and White.
Kalber, Boss and Kristian Gayday each recorded two hits to lead IPFW on the offensive end. Steve Danielak (3-1) took the loss on the mound after allowing two runs on four hits in the ninth inning, while starter Nate White posted five strikeouts and walked four in 4.2 innings of work.
CSU returns to Brooks Field for a four-game Great West Conference weekend series against two-time defending GWC champion Utah Valley beginning this Friday afternoon with a doubleheader at 12 p.m.
~CSU~
