CAROL STREAM, Ill. – The Elmhurst University baseball team opened its 2021 season by splitting a pair of contests. The Bluejays opened the season with a 14-4 win over Wheaton College before falling 14-2 to St. Norbert College.
 
ELMHURST 14, WHEATON 4 – The Bluejays used a pair of big innings to score a 14-4 win over Wheaton College in the 2021 season-opener.
 
Elmhurst (1-1) took advantage of some wildness by the Thunder in the opening frame to plate five runs on just one hit. After back-to-back walks started the inning, Trey Romay delivered a RBI single to right field, putting Elmhurst up 1-0. A bases loaded walk to Drew Raspolich forced in a run and a balk called on Wheaton gave Elmhurst a 3-0 lead. A bases loaded walk to Troy Taller and a Kevin Johlie RBI on a fielder's choice staked the Bluejays to an early 5-0 lead.
 
Taller singled home a run in the third to make the score 6-0 in favor of Elmhurst. Wheaton got a run back in the bottom of the fourth, but the Bluejays blew the game open in the fifth with an eight-run outburst. Seven of the eight runs scored on a pair of Elmhurst home runs. Zachary Mietzner crushed a three-run homer to make the score 9-1. The Bluejays promptly loaded the bases and scored on a run when Tyler Kledzik was hit by a pitch to force home Taller. Romay capped his big day by bashing a grand slam to right field to give the Bluejays a 13-run lead at 14-1.
 
The Thunder scored a run in the sixth and two in the seventh to make the final score 14-4.
 
Romay led the Bluejays at the plate with a pair of hits and five RBIs. Taller also collected two hits and knocked in a pair while Mietzner drove in three.
 
Alex Kielion picked up the victory from the mound. Kielion made the start and worked 5.2 innings, allowing just two runs and three hits. He struck out five while not issuing a walk. J.T. Oie finished up in relief, pitching the final 1.1 innings and allowing two runs and two hits.
 
ST. NORBERT 14, ELMHURST 2 – Elmhurst suffered through a role reversal in game two as St. Norbert scored in four consecutive innings on its way to a 14-2 win over the Bluejays.
 
Peyton Jack started the scoring for St. Norbert in the first inning with a two-run double to stake the Green Knights to an early lead. The Bluejays cut the deficit in half in the bottom half of the inning on a Freddie March RBI single.
 
St. Norbert scored twice in the second to extend its lead to 4-1. The Green Knights blew things open in the third, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring seven runs, pushing its lead up to 11-1 in the process. The Bluejays took a run back in the bottom of the third on Lorenzo Farino's RBI double, but the Green Knights added two runs in the fourth and a run in the seventh to make the final score 14-2.
 
The Bluejays were limited to six hits in the loss. Farino and March knocked in a run apiece for Elmhurst in the loss.

St. Norbert totaled 17 hits in the contest. Jack Maastricht led the Green Knights at the plate, finishing 4-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBIs. Jack and Lucas Reynolds drove in three runs apiece for St. Norbert.
 
Carter Truong made the start and took the loss for Elmhurst. Truong worked 1.2 innings and allowed four hits and four runs. He walked one while striking out three. Tommy Maher picked up the win for St. Norbert, tossing five innings and allowing five hits, three walks and two runs while striking out nine.
 
Elmhurst takes on Eureka College and Rockford College next Friday (March 12).