This past weekend was action-packed for the Maroons as they faced off against UAA rival Wash U in St. Louis in a total of three games. The South Siders powered back into high gear following their heartbreaking doubleheader losses on Saturday to crush the Bears 11–2 on Sunday afternoon. The win on Sunday brought Chicago to a record of 11–10 on the season while dropping the Bears’ record to 22–13.
Chicago fell in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader 6–5 after a grueling 15 innings. Unfortunately, the South Siders didn’t get their revenge in the second game, losing 11–1.
But glory came on Sunday, as fourth-year Lucas Friss continued to impress on the mound, throwing eight pristine innings while simultaneously obtaining an immense amount of offensive support. The experienced right-handed pitcher struck out nine batters while allowing only two runs, two walks, and six hits over the course of the impressive outing.
First-year Josh Parks reflected on his captain’s pitching. “Coming off really nothing short of a draining disappointment in the opener, the second game of the series became one-sided relatively quickly. With the leader of our staff on the mound in Lucas Friss, we all knew we were going to be in the game when it got late,” he said.
The Maroons totaled 15 hits and were incredibly efficient in making good use of runners in scoring position. Outfielder Parks posted yet another outstanding three-hit day (3-for-5, three RBI), with five other players adding a couple of hits apiece. Fourth-year third basemen Tim Sonnefeldt wowed the crowd with two powerful doubles and contributed four RBI, which was a game high.
While both offenses failed to score in the first three innings, the Maroons hit their offensive stride in the fourth inning. Davis hit a single and then got himself into scoring position on a throwing error with one out left in the half. Following Davis, Krob singled to put two men on base. As Parks came up to the plate, he did his job as he came through with an RBI single to bring in Davis. Sonnefeldt followed Parks with a two-run double to left field to give the Maroons a 3–0 lead.
The Maroons would eventually cruise to victory, as a result of three multi-score innings.
When looking back on the weekend, first-year Josh Parks said, “Fortunately, we picked it up on the offensive end so that we didn’t need to worry about needing a crucial RBI late. Tim Sonnefeldt and Mike Davis really stepped up in some key moments yesterday, and I can’t say enough about the way Ryan Krob came back after having an unlikely start to the series in St. Louis.”
As he assessed the season on the whole, Parks claimed, “Fortunately or unfortunately, the reasons that we drop games are rarely due to a common inadequacy.” Keeping his eye on the future, he said, “While yesterday was a remarkable showing, we all know that we’ve yet to play our best game with everyone clicking, and that’s what we intend to strive for moving forward as we head into the second half of our season”.
The South Siders will play their next game on Tuesday at home against Calvin College at 3:30 p.m.
