Box score

SAUGET, Ill.- Despite five RBIs from senior Chase Kittinger, the fourth-seeded UIndy baseball team dropped the opening game of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Thursday, 13-10, to Rockhurst.  The Greyhounds offense scored nine runs in the first four innings but managed just one more the rest of the way, as the fifth-seeded Hawks earned the come-from-behind win.

The short porch in right came into play early as both teams sent balls over the rightfield fence in the first inning.  With the bases empty in the top of the first, Rockhurst first baseman Ryan Porter sent a moon shot over the scoreboard for the game's initial run, before Kittinger followed with an opposite-field, two-run shot in the bottom half.

The Hounds increased their lead to four with a productive second.  The sloppy frame included an error, two wild pitches and three walks by the Hawks, as UIndy needed just one hit to put a three-spot on the board.  The inning also abbreviated the outing of Rockhurst starter Eric Humes, who finished with a line of 1.2 innings pitched, five runs allowed (two earned), four walks and no strikeouts.

After the Hawks pushed two runs across in the third, Porter struck again with another long ball in the Rockhurst fourth.  Porter, who came into the game tied for the GLVC lead in homers, hit a two-run blast to knot the score at 5-5.

The stalemate was short lived, however, as the Greyhounds responded with four big runs in the bottom of the fourth.  Indianapolis continued to take advantage of its opponent's miscues, as two Hawk errors fueled the outburst.  The key hit came from Kittinger, as the Greyhound catcher picked up his third and fourth RBIs with a two-out single.

The Hawks again went to work on the UIndy lead, starting with a fifth-inning solo homerun from Drew Daubman.  Two more runs followed in the sixth before Rockhurst finally seized the lead an inning later.  The seventh marked the fifth straight scoring frame for RU, putting the Hawks up10-9 for their first lead since the opening inning.

The teams traded scoreless frames before the Hounds managed to tie it again on another RBI hit from Kittinger in the eighth.  It marked the only run given up by Hawks reliever Alex Seier, who tossed four-and-a-third solid innings and eventually got the win.

With the game locked at 10-10 heading into the ninth, Rockhurst got the game-winning hit from pinch hitter Mike Walczuk's RBI single and went on to add two more insurance runs.

The Greyhounds ninth started promisingly when Chris Ulrey and Adam Rusche started things with a single and a walk, respectively, but RU reliever Mark Sappington retired three of the next four hitters to garner the save.

UIndy will face Lewis in a loser-go-home game later tonight.  First pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m. EDT.