PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla.-- Chicago State baseball won the final game of their weekend in Florida by using a huge sixth inning to defeat Villanova, 13-9. The win made the Cougars 3-1 on the weekend and 3-6 overall on the season.
The Wildcats began the game on top of the Cougars when they plated four runs in the first inning off of CSU starter Edward Kang (Taoyuan, Taiwan, Pingzhen). Nick Lorusso drove in the first run of the game for the Wildcats on an RBI double that scored Chris Rotondo.
The Cougars began to gradually claw back at the four run deficit in the 3rd inning. Daulton Ryans (Mishawaka, Ind., Mishawaka) reached base with a double in the gap, and Nick Heidenthal (McHenry, Ill., Grant) added onto his stellar weekend by driving him in with an RBI single. The Cougars continued to lessen the deficit after Matt Sullivan (Lake in the Hills, Ill., Huntley) picked up an RBI single of his own, trimming the Wildcat lead to 4-2. The Cougars also did damage in the 4th inning, when Daulton Ryans trimmed the lead to one after hitting a loop single into left that scored Reggie Brock Jr. (Chicago, Ill., Simeon)
However, the Wildcats would be the next to score following the Cougar's first three runs. They plated three in the bottom of the fifth starting with an error that allowed them to increase their lead to two. They eventually added one more after Nick Lorusso drew a walk from CSU reliever Yunis Halim (Chicago, Ill., Oak Lawn) that brought in a run to make the score 6-3 in favor of Villanova.
Following the conclusion of the 5th, it would be all Cougars the rest of the game. The Cougars would go on to score eight runs in the sixth inning, with all but one of them coming with two outs. The eight runs came on three RBI singles from Andy Gaytan (Oak Forest, Ill.), Matt Sullivan, and Daulton Ryans; two RBI doubles from Gabriel Coburn (Windermere, Fla.) and Nick Heidenthal; and two RBI walks from Reggie Brock Jr. and Cole Hansel (Edwardsville, Ill.). By the conclusion of the inning, the Cougars held an 11-6 lead.
The next runs in the game would not come until the 9th inning, where the Cougars added two insurance runs on a double from Matt Sullivan that scored both Gabriel Coburn and Nick Heidenthal. Villanova would put up a mild fight in the bottom of the 9th after Doug DeMarrais homered off of Calvin Peacock (Bartonville, Ill.), and Dylan McNary added a two run homer of his own. Peacock eventually induced a game ending fly-out to end the Wildcat rally and secure the Cougar's third win on the year.
Next Up
The Cougars will be back in action this weekend at the University of Illinois-Chicago, with game one scheduled for Friday at 4 p.m. CT.
