Baseball: St. Francis continues to win
After holding off a late charge from Montini on Wednesday, St. Francis stayed hot on Thursday against Loyola, taking advantage of one more day of springlike weather before Illinois turns its back on baseball yet again over the weekend.
The Spartans pounded out 14 hits on their way to a 12-5 victory over the Ramblers, moving them to 7-1 despite the weather wreaking havoc on the early portion of their schedule.
"We played in Florida and we got four games in over five days and it was phenomenal. We came back and we had a 10-day layoff, so to be able to play two days in a row - yesterday we were able to knock some rust off and today was an all-around great win," St. Francis coach Nick Hall said.
The Spartans got productivity from up and down their lineup in the offensive explosion, but most of the damage was done by the middle of the order just as they'd hoped. Nick Kosmetatos and Bennett Eltoft combined for 4 extra-base hits and 8 RBI on the day.
In the third inning, having just taken a 2-1 lead, it was the first of Eltoft's two doubles that blew the game open for St. Francis. Eltoft belted a first-pitch fastball with the bases loaded that one-hopped the wall in right-center field and drove in two runs in a 6-run inning.
Two innings later, Kosmetatos roped a double to practically the same spot with the bases loaded to clear the bags and make it 12-3. That gave St. Francis all the insurance it could dream of.
"You put those guys in those spots so they can drive in the guys in front of them, and that's exactly what they did," Hall said. "Yesterday, Kosmetatos (the No. 3 hitter) got walked twice and we didn't make it hurt. But today you can't walk him when (Eltoft) is hitting doubles to right-center and down the line."
On the mound St. Francis starter Ben Radel mixed speeds effectively early and made way for Nino Christopher having given up 3 earned runs in 3⅔ innings while striking out 3.
Christopher took it the rest of the way and struck out 3 batters of his own to earn the win. The pair combined to allow just 6 singles on the day.
Kosmetatos finished the day 3-for-3 with 5 RBI while Eltoft went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI. Tanner Spinks, Matt Cooney and Trevor Hicks all chipped in two hits apiece on the day.
Loyola moved to 6-2 on the season with the loss.