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CHICAGO – Chicago State baseball picked up their first Great West Conference win of the season on Sunday (April 7) in a doubleheader split with Northern Colorado. The Cougars won game one 7-4 and fell in game two 5-1. The games were played at UIC's Les Miller Field.
Game One: Chicago State 7, Northern Colorado 4 (7 innings)
The Cougars put a run on the board in the first inning of both games. In game one it was sophomore
Mattingly Romanin (Burlington, ONT/Notre Dame) doubling in freshman
Julian Russell (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech). In the second inning, Russell was in the middle of it again. He singled on the first pitch he saw with the bases loaded and two outs to knock in a pair of runs. His single made it a 3-0 ball game. It was 3-0 for less than a minute after Romanin singled on the first pitch he saw up the middle to knock in another two runs.
Northern Colorado inched closer with a pair of runs in the fourth only to see Chicago State get them back in the fifth. Romanin stole third and came home on a wild throw by the Northern Colorado catcher. Senior
Eric O'Brien (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino) then found home plate following an RBI single by freshman
William Munoz (Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech).
The Bears scored one in the sixth and another in the seventh to make the score 7-4. Northern Colorado threatened to do more damage in the seventh after loading the bases with two outs. Sophomore
Aveeno Nasiloski (Hammond, Ind./Gavit) took the mound and earned a fly out to end the game. Nasiloski picked up a save, his first of the season, for his effort.
Chicago State starter sophomore
Andrew Wellwerts (Cedar Lake, Ind./Hanover Central) kept the Bears offense at bay for most of the day. He picked up the win to move his record to 1-5 after going 6.2 innings and allowing four runs on 10 hits with six strikeouts. Wellwerts worked out of a bases loaded two-out jam in the sixth. The Cougars defense turned double plays in the first and fifth innings.
“Andy pitched a solid game for us,” Chicago State head coach
Steve Joslyn said. “We added on runs and kept the pressure on and that makes it easier to finish the game off. It was good to see some hitting come around but it stated with Andy on the mound.”
Northern Colorado starter Jake Johnson (2-3) took the loss. Five of the seven runs he surrendered were earned.
Romanin had three RBI, two hits and a run scored in game one. Russell scored twice, knocked in two and had two hits. Both also stole a bag.
Game Two: Northern Colorado 5, Chicago State 1
The Cougars' only run in game two came thanks to a two-out rally in the first. Romanin walked, stole second and then scored on a single by Nasiloski to right.
Chicago State starter sophomore
Eric Hall (Oakville, ONT/Oakville Trafalgar) gave up an unearned run in the second to knot up the ball game. In the third with one out Hall took a liner off his hand and was forced to leave the game. Sophomore
Jerry Silva (Chicago, Ill./Holy Trinity) came in the game and had his best outing of the year. Before the ninth, the only hit he allowed was in the sixth on a Northern Colorado bunt when the Chicago State defense was slow to cover first base. However it was the ninth that did in the Cougars. Northern Colorado scored four times with two going against Silva's slate. All told Silva went 6.0 innings, giving up two runs, three hits and two walks. He struck out three Bears. 10 of the outs he earned were either fly outs or pop outs.
“Jerry came in and that's so tough to do (when) you're not ready to come in and (he) pitched great, challenged in the zone had (Northern Colorado) popping up all day and really gave us a chance to win,” Joslyn said. “We shot ourselves in the foot with some base running and some situational hitting that we have to get better at.”
Silva ended up taking the loss (0-1). Northern Colorado starter Nick Miller went the distance to get the win (3-3). He gave up just the one run on six hits with seven strikeouts.
Northern Colorado is now 12-14 (3-1 GWC). Chicago State is 4-19 (1-3 GWC). The Cougars play at Milwaukee on Tuesday (April 9) in a non-conference game at 3 p.m.
