MARION, Ill. – Maryville baseball erased an early five-run deficit and punched its ticket to the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship game with an 11-9 win over Lewis University.
 
Lewis Recap
The Flyers got off to a quick start in the top of the first with a one-out solo home run from Mikey Kocen. They put runners at second and third with two outs before Maryville starting pitcher Ben Prywitch worked out of the jam with a flyout to center field.
 
Jack Zebig tried to jump-start the offense in the top of the first inning with a leadoff triple to left-center field. Lewis starter Dylan Wolff nearly escaped the jam with a pop-out and a strikeout, but Matt Schuler tied the game with a single up the middle.
 
Two infield singles in the top of the second had the Flyers in business and a sacrifice bunt moved them both into scoring position. Prywitch got the next hitter to line out to second but walked the next batter to load the bases. Left-handed hitting Chris McDevitt dug into the box and blooped a double down the left field line to put Lewis ahead 3-1. The lead was extended to four runs on a two-RBI single to right field by Jason Krol in the next at-bat.
 
The score remained 5-1 until Andy Bunton ripped a two-run home run to left field in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-3.
 
In the top of the sixth Lewis put runners on first and second with one out forcing a call to the bullpen. Two batters later, Angelo Cantelo restored a three-run lead for his club with an RBI single to right field. Cain Headrick and Michael Alt piled on with RBI singles to push the lead to 8-3.
 
Looking for a quick response, the Saints loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the sixth. Now facing a reliever, Camden Ruby was hit by a breaking ball in the first pitch of his at-bat to bring in a run. Matt Arnold plated another with a single into center field, Bunton walked, Zebig walked, Elias Stevens got hit by a pitch, and Matt Schuler brought in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to center field. In total, Maryville scored six runs in the sixth on three hits.
 
The Saints' saves leader Noah Harbin was brought in to pitch the top of the seventh and surrendered one hit in a scoreless frame. In the bottom half, they loaded the bases with two outs for Michael Gould. Gould worked the count full and hit a ball up the middle to score two runs.
 
The Flyers got one back in the eighth on a two-out RBI single from Alt and put the tying run at first base with a walk. Gavin Kreigel worked the count full when Harbin got him to ground out to third base to uphold an 11-9 advantage heading into the ninth.
 
Pat Evers sent Harbin back out to finish the game in the ninth. He got a quick out and surrendered a one-out double before nailing down the victory to push the Saints into the GLVC Championship game. 
 
Winning Pitcher: Noah Harbin (2-3)
Losing Pitcher: Daniel Rosado (2-3)
 
Batting Leaders
Andy Bunton: 1-for-3, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
Matt Schuler: 1-for-3, 2 RBI, R
Michael Gould: 1-for-5, 2 RBI
 
Records:
Maryville: 37-16
Lewis: 29-26
 
What's Next?
Maryville takes on Quincy University in the GLVC Championship at 12:30 p.m. 
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