DAVENPORT, Iowa --- Second baseman Josh Tesch (GR/Lockport, Ill.) had a day to remember on Wednesday when he helped the University of St. Francis baseball team gain a split of its Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against St. Ambrose University at Modern Woodmen Park. St. Ambrose collected a 5-4, eight-inning walk-off win in the opener before the Saints scored 11 runs over their last two bats to rally for an 18-10, eight-inning victory in the nightcap.
Tesch fueled the eighth-inning uprising with a tie-breaking home run to start the inning and a grand slam later in the frame. He finished the game going 3-for-6 with seven runs batted in as part of a 4-for-10, 7-RBI, 4-run day.
Others having big offensive days as part of USF's 25-hit attack included designated hitter Foster Heise (GR/Lisle, Ill.) and first baseman Joe McGuire (SR/Lockport, Ill.), both of whom recorded four hits. Outfielders Travis Schoonover (GR/Braidwood, Ill.), and Dolan Nicholson (SR/Denton, Texas) and catcher Jake LaSota (JR/Marengo, Ill.) all had three hits apiece.
On the mound, both Kevin Kardas (JR/Hampshire, Ill.) and Matt Lopez (FR/Morris, Ill.) tossed three-plus innings of scoreless baseball between the two games with the latter gaining his second win of the season against no defeats in Game 2.
Game 1 --- St. Ambrose 5, USF 4
St. Francis (5-7, 3-3 CCAC) also rallied in the opener coming back from a 3-0 deficit after two innings with a single run in the third inning on a Schoonover steal of home and a two-out, three-run double from Heise (3-for-4) in the fifth inning to take a 4-3 lead.
St. Ambrose, however, delivered three clutch hits with two outs to drive in its final three runs, including Shawn Rigsby's game-winning double in the bottom of the eighth inning. Two innings earlier, Liam Dennehy (3-for-4, 2 RBIs, 2 runs) tied the contest with his two-out solo home run to left field for the Fighting Bees (6-13, 2-1).
Angel Sandoval (SR/Garfield Ridge, Ill.) (0-3) took the loss for USF.
Game 2 --- USF 18, St. Ambrose 10
The Saints tied their season-high run output with three separate three-run innings (1st, 5th, 7th) before unloading with their eight-run eighth inning.
Tesch wasn't the only one who had a big game offensively. LaSota drove in four runs with three hits, including a game-tying double in the seventh inning to force extra innings and a two-run single in the fifth. McGuire went 4-for-5 with four runs scored, two runs batted in and a solo home run in the fifth inning.
Besides his two home runs in the eighth inning, Tesch also authored a two-run triple in the first inning.
Like he did two days earlier, Nicholson also had a clutch RBI single in the seventh inning.
St. Ambrose, which had six errors in the nightcap leading to eight of USF's runs being unearned, also got in on the grand-slam act with Gabriel Panza's shot in its five-run fifth inning to go up 10-7.
Lopez (2-0) stemmed the tide the rest of the way, throwing 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and one walk with four strikeouts.
The Saints take Thursday off before hosting Trinity Christian College in a single conference game on Friday beginning at 3 pm at DuPage Medical Group Field.
