With the sun beaming down on the turf all day. The College of DuPage baseball team posted a run in the bottom of the eighth to take a one run lead against the Lake County Lancers. Jimmy Traficanti came out to the mound for DuPage to slam the door with the final three outs on the Lancers.

Sophomore AJ Burnett started on the mound for DuPage. Burnett’s first batter of the day was Kyle Larson. Burnett retired Larson on three straight pitches for the first out. Aidan Roessler settled in the box for Lake County but quickly walked back to the dugout after striking out on the four pitches. Burnett got out of the first inning after a routine ground ball from Albert Jaquez to Alex Chaltin at shortstop. 

Ethan Peters started on the mound for Lake County as Matt McBrien stepped up to bat. McBrien caught the ball out in front of the plate for a lead off single. Joe Pender came up to the plate and laid down a bunt that got him to first and McBrien to second, after Peters slipped on his way to grab the ball in front of the mound. 

Chaltin struck out for the out of the inning. Next, designated hitter Cullen Kleinsasser hit a base-clearing opposite-field double to grab the first two runs of the game (2-0). After him was Zach Glidewell, who lined out to center for the second out of the inning. AJ Fulscher hit a hard ground ball through the left side of the infield to bring Kleinsasser home from second (3-0). Michael Morgan hit a hard ground ball right back at Peter, who gathered it and got the out at first for the final out of the inning. 

Burnett let up his first hit of the day in the top of the second after Michael Fiedor hit a liner into left field for a single. Nathan Husser would be the second out of the inning after catcher Dylan Johnson squeezed a foul tip with two strikes to complete the strikeout. Abe Kapinos reached first base, which put Fiedor into scoring position, after getting hit in the head with a curveball that slipped out of Burnett’s hand. Burnett walked Nate Wertel to load the bases with Angel Berrios coming up to the plate. Berrios hit an infield single up the middle that got stopped by a diving Chaltin but couldn’t make a play at the plate to get Fiedor (3-1). Jack Pristas hit a hard liner but right at Fulscher at second base for out number two. The lineup flipped back to the top for Lake County. Larson hit a ground ball to the left of Fulscher, Fulscher dove, got the ball, threw on his side to first, but pulled McBrien off the base with an inaccurate throw. Kapinos and Wertel scored to tie the game at 3-3. The inning ended after Buenett struck out Roessler. 

Dylan Johnson started off the bottom of the second for COD, Johnson struck out after working into a full count. Anthony Titone got on base with a single up the middle. McBrien was putting up a fight in his at bat, working a full count, and ultimately got walked. Johnson advanced to second with a delayed steal during McBriens’ at bat. With runners on first and second, Pender showed to bunt early but pulled it back. Pender grounded out into a fielder’s choice that got McBrien out at second for the second out of the inning. Chaltin struck out to end the inning on three straight curveballs. 

Burnett went back out in the top of the third and retired Jaquez with an inside curveball for the first out. Fiedor flew out to Glidewell for the second out, and Burnett struck out Husser to end as short top of the third. 

Kleinsasser led off in the bottom of the third but grounded out to Jaquez at third. Glidewell settled in and lined a single up the middle on the first pitch of the at bat. Glidewell broke for second after a ball in the turf, but got thrown out by Husser for the second out of the inning. Fulscher struck out to end the bottom of the third. 

Kapinos hit a soft ground ball to second that Chaltin had to charge in on and made a quick throw to McBrien for the first out of the fourth. Burnett got out Wertel after Wertel foul tipped back into Johnson’s glove for out number two. Berrios reached first on a walk to bring up Pristas. Berrios advanced to second after a wild pitch from Burnett. Pristas walked to put runners on first and second with two outs. Larson came up to the plate and got walked to load the bases. Coach Pat Leahy came out to talk with Burnett on the mound. Roessler settled in and got a walk to bring home Berrios from third to grab their first lead of the day (3-4). Bases were still loaded for Jaquez, Jaquez hit a hard grounder to Titone at third and Titone stepped on the base for the force to end the inning. 

McBrien, Johnson and Titone were all retired in order after three groundouts. Two to Kapinos at shortstop, and one to Berrios at second. 

Burnett’s day came to an end getting relieved by RHP Jayce Maranell. 

Maranell’s first batter was Fiedor, who ripped a single into right field. Husser laid down a sac bunt to advance Fiedor to scoring position. Maranell walked Kapinos and hit Wertel to load the bases with one out. Berrios settled in to add some insurance runs, and with a deep sac fly to center, Fiedor scored from third to widen their lead to 3-5. Pristas flew out to Chaltin to end the inning. 

McBrien led off with a groundout to second. Pender came up to the plate and hit a pop-up to left-center field where the center fielder Pristas laid out and came down with the ball. Chaltin struck out looking to end the inning. 

Maranell’s day would be over just after one inning, as he wouldn’t come back out to start the top of the sixth. Jimmy Traficanti would come in where Maranell left off. 

Larson led off and got to second after a throwing error by Chaltin that got past McBrien at first. Roessler put down a sac bunt to advance Larson to third. Jaquez came up and hit a lineout right back at Traficanti and Larson got doubled up at third to end the inning. 

Kleinsasser led off the bottom of the sixth with his second double of the day. Kleinsasser advanced to third after a wild pitch in the at-bat. With Kleinsasser on third, Glidewell hit a liner to right field that was just deep enough for Kleinsasser to tag from third and cut into the deficit (3-4). Fulscher dug in with one out and smoked a ball to the warning track for a stand up double to put the tying run in scoring position. Lake County pulled Peters for LHP Jason Schmierer. Schmierer’s first pitch was in the turf and got passed Husser for Fulscher to advance to third. Morgan got hit by a pitch to put runners on the corner for the Chaps. Johnson walked on four straight pitches to load them with one out for Titone. Titone watched the first strike go past him and hit a chopper foul, with two strikes Titone needed to put the ball in play or work the count. Titonefound himself with a full count and he hit a deep sac fly to left field to bring home Fulscher from third and to tie up the ball game at 5-5. McBrien struck out looking to end the sixth inning, leaving Johnson and Morgan on base.

Traficanti went back out and got Fiedor to line out to Glidewell in right field for the first out of the inning. Husser flew out to Fulshcer at second for the second out and Chaltin made an incredible play by diving to his left and throwing a laser to first to nab Kapinos at first to end the top of the seventh.

To start the bottom of the seventh, Pender lined out to Kapinos at shortstop for the first out. Chaltin and Kleinsasser both flew out for a short bottom in the seventh. 

Wertel hit a ground ball to Chaltin for the first out of the inning. Trafucanti sent Barrios back to the dugout after Johnson squeezed a foul tip to complete the strikeout. Traficanti got the last out after striking out Pristas.

Glidewell led off in the bottom of the eighth line drive that was caught by Roessler in right field. Fulschler got on base by getting walked. Morgan came into the batter’s box and worked into a full count, Morgan grounded out into a fielder’s choice that got Fulschler out at second. Schmierer got pulled for RHP Jacob Redker after Schmierer hit Johnson in the leg. Titone settled in the box with two outs and runners on first and second. The count was full on Titone and he got walked to load the bases for McBrien. The first pitch to McBrien nailed him in the shoulder, which brought home Fulscher to grab the 6-5 lead. Pender flew out to end the inning. 

The Lancers needed at least one run to push the game into the bottom of the ninth or extras. Larson led off for the Lancers, but flew out to Fulscher. With needing only two more outs, Traficanti made Roessler line out to Pender in left field and finally struck out Jaquez to complete the 6-5 win in relief and add another win on the season.  

Traficanti stated “I was warned before the game I might be going today, I didn’t know exactly what time that would be, but I was just trying to stay ready, stay loose. I tried to keep it simple, try not to make the game too big, If I try to make the game too big I won’t perform my best.”

Head Coach Pat Leahy said “It’s reassuring that we put two good performances together in two days. Good work from our pitchers keeping us in it and timely hitting.” 

The win puts them at 2-8 and their next home game is on March 21 when they take on Oakton College.