Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - After Thursday's doubleheader split with Benedictine, when Edgewood College walked 21 batters, head coach Al Brisack was searching his roster for pitchers who could keep the ball over the plate. He found an answer on Saturday in the forms of senior Matt Krueger and freshman Blake O'Brien. The Eagles duo both threw complete game victories, earning Edgewood College their first Northern Athletics Conference sweep of the season winning 4-3 and 3-0 over Dominican University.
Krueger struck out a career-high 13 batters in the first game of the day. He punched out at least one Dominican hitter in each of the nine innings played, including a stretch in the sixth and seventh inning where he struck out five of the six hitters he faced. It was Krueger's fourth complete game of the season and the third time he's established a new career-high in strikeouts as he improved his record to 4-1.
Leading 4-2 in the eighth, however, Krueger found himself in his tightest spot in the game. Dominican's Kevin Cahill singled to cut the Eagles' lead to 4-3 and put runners on second and third with one out. Krueger got Dominic Tardi to line out to shortstop and then struck out Chris Anderson for the third time to end the threat and preserve the Eagles' lead. Krueger then set down three hitters in order in the ninth inning ending the game with, appropriately enough, a strikeout of Robert Fioravanti.
The Eagles got on the board with an unearned run in the first. Tim Barry reached on an error that allowed Jimy Landwehr to score all the way from first base. Edgewood College was trailing 2-1 after five innings when the Eagles took the lead for good in the sixth. Seth Astroth opened the inning with a leadoff triple and scored on Landwehr's sacrifice fly. Barry followed with a double and scored two batters later on Andrew King's RBI single. Landwehr drove in a crucial insurance run with an RBI single in the seventh to score Treye Dennison.
Landwehr recorded hits in his first three official at-bats which gave him hits on 11 of his last 12 at-bats. The NAC's leading hitter went 3-for-4 in the first game with two runs batted in. Astroth and King had two hits apiece for the Eagles.
As overpowering as Krueger was in game one, O'Brien was as dominant in game two. O'Brien allowed just five hits, all singles, and struck out six hitters. He didn't allow a runner to reach third base until the eighth inning and he walked just one batter, the Stars' leadoff hitter in the first inning. O'Brien induced the Stars into 14 ground ball outs and the Eagle defense backed him up by turning three double plays in the first five innings. The victory improved O'Brien to 3-1 on the season and marked his first career complete game and first career shutout.
In fact, the only thing going wrong for O'Brien was his counterpart for Dominican, Anthony Davey, was pitching just as well. Davey struck out five hitters, retired the first seven batters of the game and didn't allow a run for the first eight innings.
It wasn't until the ninth inning that Edgewood College (15-9, 6-4 NAC) broke through. Astroth reached on an error on the Stars' shortstop Lenny Cunzalo and advanced to second. Erik Massey then laid down a potential sacrifice bunt, but he beat the ball to first base for a bunt single, moving Astroth to third. Landwehr stepped in and extended his career-high hitting streak to 14 games with a bunt single of his own driving in Astroth with the go-ahead run. Barry followed with an RBI single to put the Eagles ahead 2-0 and move Landwehr up to third base. Landwehr then scored on Ryan Walker's sacrifice fly to right field.
The Eagles managed six hits in the game, none for extra bases. Barry was the only Eagle with multiple hits, picking up a pair of singles in four at-bats. Astroth, Massey, Landwehr and Mike Selvaggi had the other base hits. Despite going 1-for-4 Landwehr still leads the NAC with a .500 batting average.
Edgewood College will return home on Sunday for a noon doubleheader with MSOE. Those games can be seen live on EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com.
