ROMEOVILLE, Ill. -- Sophomore
Nate Stolte carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and
Kyle Schulz had three hits and drove in a run leading Wisconsin-Parkside to a 5-2 victory over Lewis in game one of a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader on Saturday at Brennan Field.
With the win, the Rangers captured the series against the Flyers by winning three of the four games. Lewis bounced back to win the series finale 13-5 to salvage one victory.
Stolte was outstanding on the mound in leading the Rangers to the game one win. He finished the game pitching 5.2 innings and allowing just two hits and no earned runs to notch his first victory of the season.
He retired the first seven batters he faced before walking Anthony Rios with one out in the third inning. He then retired the next seven hitters before walking Alex Kiszkowski with two outs in the fifth inning. Stolte entered the sixth inning just six outs away from a no-hitter, but Ryan Schefske led off the inning with a single through the left side to break up the no hit bid.
Stolte got Ryan Schefske to ground into a double play, but a Ranger error opened the door for the Flyers to score two unearned runs and chase Stolte.
Cody Rolshoven got a groundout to get out of the sixth inning and worked a perfect seventh inning to earn his first save of the season.
Stolte was also the beneficiary of two spectacular defensive plays by the Rangers. In the top of the third inning, Alex Kiszkowski hit a sinking liner to center, but Schulz made a diving catch to retire Kiszkowski to keep the no-hit bid alive. And in the fourth inning, Neal Tyrell crushed a ball to left, but
Troy Bittenbender raced back to the fence, jumped and took away a home run to keep the no-hitter in check.
Schulz,
Kyohei Makita,
Nick Janssen,
Trent Muscat and
Andrew Luscomb accounted for the RBI for the Rangers in the opener, while Schulz, Bittenbender,
Jake Kolasinski, Janssen, Muscat and Luscomb all picked up base hits.
Wisconsin-Parkside, which improved to 9-9 overall and 3-1 in the GLVC with the split, got on the scoreboard in the first inning when Makita laid down a sacrifice bunt which brought home Schulz with the first run of the game.
The Rangers extended the lead to 4-0 by tacking on three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Kolasinski led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a groundout by
Max Widmar. Janssen doubled to left to bring home Kolasinski and increase the Rangers lead to 2-0.
Zach Thompson followed with a walk and Janssen moved to third on a flyout and came in to score one batter later when Luscomb reached on an infield single to up the margin to 3-0. Schulz scored the final run of the inning when he singled to left to score Thompson and make it 4-0 Rangers.
Lewis then struck for a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning, but the Rangers added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Muscat singled home Janssen.
Lewis, which dropped to 5-16 overall and 1-3 in conference, broke open a tight game two by scoring seven runs in the top of the eighth inning to pull away from the Rangers and salvage one win in the series. Jermaine Terry, Tyrell and Brandon Collins combined to go 12-for-16 with eight runs scored and four RBI in the game two victory.
Kolasinski led the Rangers with two hits and two RBI in game two, while Makita had a pair of hits and scored a run. Widmar and Janssen each added a hit and an RBI for the Rangers.
Wisconsin-Parkside returns to action on Saturday (April 1) when it hosts Saint Joseph's in a GLVC doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. at Oberbruner Field.
