ELMHURST, Ill. - The Elmhurst University baseball team slugged their way to a thrilling 9-8 victory over conference-leader Millikin, Wednesday evening at Butterfield Park.

Elmhurst (10-12, 2-4 CCIW) knocked four home runs in the contest and held off a ninth-inning surge from the Big Blue (20-8, 6-2 CCIW) to take down the first-place team in the CCIW. 

Trey Romay led the Bluejays at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double, home run and two RBI, while Ryan Thrawl matched Romay's hitting line, also knocking a home run in the game. Freddie MArch provided a three-run home run for the Bluejay offense, and Zach Kolb rounded out the Bluejay home run hitters with a two-run shot in the fourth inning to push Elmhurst ahead.

On the mound, Troy Taller earned the victory after giving up five runs (three earned runs), scattering six hits while striking out six Big Blue batters to improve to 2-1 on the season. After a late surge from Millikin forced three Bluejay pitching changes in the final frame, freshman Logan Leach earned his second save of the season, sitting down a pair of Millikin batters to seal the victory for Elmhurst.

Millikin started the game with a bang, knocking a three-run home run to jump ahead 3-0 after a half inning of play. The Bluejays responded quickly in their half of the first, with Kolb reaching base on an error and Romay earning a walk before being brought home by March's monster three-run home run that stayed fair down the left field line, knotting the game at three after one inning.

The Big Blue fought back in the second, loading the bases and scoring another pair of runs on a walk and hit by pitch to again lead 5-3. In the bottom of the third, Romay earned a run back with a solo home run to right-center field, cutting the deficit to one. Taller worked around a one-out walk in the fourth to keep Millikin at bay, before the Bluejay offense exploded with four runs on five hits in the fourth inning.

Thrawl began the scoring in the fourth with a solo home run to right field, tying the game at four with one out. A Michael Campanaro single forced Millikin to make a pitching change, and with two outs Kolb stepped to the plate and muscled a two-run home run out of the ballpark to put Elmhrst ahead 7-5. Back-to-back doubles from Taller and Romay added another Bluejay run in the fourth, and brought the game into the fifth with the Bluejays leading 8-5.

Elmhurst earned a crucial insurance run in the fifth after a Thrawl RBI single pushed the lead to 9-5 through five innings. Taller was relieved to start the sixth inning by Zach Keplar, but three-straight walks loaded the bases with no outs, with Millikin threatening to cut into the Bluejay lead. Cole Bozzi entered the game and quickly recorded three-straight strikeouts to emphatically keep Millikin off the board.

Both teams remained quiet in the seventh, before Millikin scratched a run across the plate in the eighth inning thanks to a bases-loaded hit by pitch, but Bozzi was able to get out of the inning with just one run and Elmhurst held a 9-6 advantage heading into the final frame.

Millikin led off the inning with a single and a walk, forcing a Bluejay pitching change with Robert Brenneman entering the game looking for the save. A bases-loaded sacrifice fly from the Big Blue moved the lead to two for Elmhurst, and after another walk the Bluejays again turned to the bullpen for an answer.

After a hit by pitch with the bases loaded from Davis Maifield, Leach was called into the game with one out and the bases loaded to close out the game for the Bluejays. Leach grabbed a strikeout for the second out, but a Millikin batter launched a high drive into left-center field that nearly carried over the wall, but a miraculous catch from Romay in center field ended the Big Blue rally and earned Elmhurst their second conference victory of the season by a score of 9-8.

UP NEXT

The Bluejays continue CCIW action next Wednesday, April 12, hosting Millikin for a 6:00 p.m. CT first pitch under the lights at Butterfield Park.

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