ROCKFORD, Ill. -- The Rockford University baseball team won both double-header games against Eureka College on Friday in its season-opening game. RU won the first game 7-2 and came out on top winning the second, 11-1 in eight innings.
The Regents will return to action on Saturday, March 7, vs. Geneva College in a non-conference game at 7 p.m. EDT.
Game One: Rockford 7, Eureka 2
Kadin Bergstrom led Rockford offensively going 2-for-3 at the plate with two homers and three RBIs.
Zach Fabis,
Bryce Stanton, and
Nate Burdin all went 2-for-4 at the plate. Burdin tallied one RBI.
Zach Fabis got the start on the hill with six innings of work allowing one earned run off of six hits with one strikeout.
Logan Koeller came in for relief for the final three innings forcing two strikeouts, allowing no runs, and was credited with the save.
Eureka plated one run in the top of the second with an RBI single from Andrew Zimmerman.
Zach Duke then put Rockford on the board with an RBI single to tie the game at one after the second inning.
The Red Devils regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single from Nate Cooley, as they held a 2-1 lead after four innings.
The Regents exploded and pulled away in the fifth, as Bergstrom hit a two-run home run to grab the Regents their first lead of the game up 3-2. To end the explosive inning, Burdin scored on an RBI single, followed by a sacrifice fly from Duke, and
Bryce Stanton scoring on a wild pitch.
In the sixth, Bergstrom homered again to put the Regents up 7-2, to secure the win in the first game of the year for the Regents.
Game Two: Rockford 11, Eureka 1
Marcus Taylor,
Nate Burdin,
Trent Lawrence, and
David Wilhite all totaled two hits in the second game. Lawrence recorded three RBIs.
On the mound,
Alex Easton got the start with six innings of work with four strikeouts off of two hits, while allowing zero runs.
Bartolo Rodriguez came in for relief with one strikeout and one hit in one inning of work, and
Sidney Atkins finished the game with two strikeouts working one inning.
Bergstrom got the scoring started for Rockford reaching first on an error and later plated an unearned run off a wild pitch.
After one scoreless inning, Burdin hit an RBI triple to put the Regents up 2-0 after the third.
The Regents plated two more in the bottom of the fifth as Fabis scored as a result of a wild pitch and Burdin recorded an RBI single off a bunt to put the Regents up 4-0 after five innings.
In the seventh-inning stretch, the Regents offense exploded. Lawrence homered in the bottom of the seventh to extend Rockford's lead to 5-0. Eureka plated its only run of the game with an RBI double, but the Regents were able to take care of business the rest of the game.
Rockford put the game away in the bottom of the eighth with a two-RBI double from Duke, Bergstrom then recorded an RBI single the following at-bat. Lawrence and
Myles Foy ended the game for the Regents starting off with a two RBI single from Lawrence followed by an RBI single from Foy to end the game as a result of a mercy rule.
