Chris Suchoski playing baseball
Nicole Meismer
5
Winner Ill.-Springfield ILL.-SPR 8-3
2
Lake Erie LAKE ERI 0-8
Winner
Ill.-Springfield ILL.-SPR
8-3
5
Final
2
Lake Erie LAKE ERI
0-8
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Ill.-Springfield ILL.-SPR 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 5 11 0
Lake Erie LAKE ERI 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 1

W: Benoit, Ben (4-0) L: L. Reasor (0-3) S: Graf, Isaac (2)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Benoit Fans Eight in 5-2 Win Over Lake Erie

The Illinois Springfield baseball picked up a 5-2 win over the Lake Erie Storm on Friday in Morgantown, W.V., improving to 8-3 on the season. UIS finished with 11 hits and played clean defense behind a composed performance on the mound.

UIS jumped out to an early lead when Kody Morton worked a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Corey Boyette. Lake Erie answered in the bottom half of the inning, plating one run off of two hits. 

The second and third innings were quiet for both sides. The Storm regained the lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, but UIS answered in the top of the fifth. Jesse Contreras walked and moved into scoring position before Tommy Atkinson delivered a two-out double down the left-field line to tie the game at 2-2.

An inning later, the Prairie Stars strung together quality at-bats to move in front. Noah Caceres drove in Johnny Wendling with a single to right field, giving UIS an advantage they would not relinquish.

UIS added insurance in the seventh when Atkinson came home on a passed ball, and Jesse Contreras extended the lead to 5-2 in the eighth with an RBI single to right-center. 

Atkinson paced the offense with three hits, including two doubles and an RBI. Caceres finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while Griffitts added two hits of his own as UIS consistently pressured the Storm pitching staff.

On the mound, Ben Benoit (4-0) was outstanding. The right-hander worked 7.0 innings, allowed two runs on six hits and struck out eight, including two in the 1-2-3 seventh, while facing just 27 batters. Isaac Graf (2 SV) closed the door over the final two innings, striking out three and not allowing a run to secure the save.

UIS outhit Lake Erie 11-6 and did not commit an error in the field.

"It was a good team win overall," said Chris Rodriguez. "Benoit got us deep into the game, executing pitches at a high level and taking us into the eighth inning. I thought our offense made adjustments as the game went on and did a really good job putting together quality at-bats late in the lineup to extend our lead before we handed it off to Graf to close it out."

Up Next
UIS plays the Walsh Cavaliers tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. CT / 11:30 a.m. ET at Frank Loria Field. 
 

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