From University of Chicago Athletics
The University of Chicago baseball pitching staff put together a complete performance and made early run support stand up in a 3-1 victory over Dominican University on Wednesday evening.
The Maroons improved to 15-14 while the Stars fell to 16-21. UChicago has now held six opponents to one or zero runs this season.
Pitching owned the day, and Brenton Villasenor (2-5 record) led the charge. The UChicago freshman righthander recorded the best outing of his collegiate career. He went seven innings and struck out seven batters along the way, while only allowing one run on five hits and two walks. Both the strikeouts and innings pitched were career highs.
Pitchers on both sides worked quickly, as the nine-inning game flew by in two hours and 10 minutes. After his seven innings of work, Villasenor was relieved by sophomore Chase Packard (1 IP, 2 H, 2 K). Sophomore Michael Davis then closed out the game with two strikeouts in the ninth inning to pick up his fourth save of the season.
UChicago gave Villasenor a lead before he even picked up the baseball, scoring twice in the top of the first inning. Sophomore outfielder Max Larsen led off with a single and promptly stole second base. Freshman outfielder Connor Hickey then doubled to left center, before coming around to score himself when junior outfielder Nicholas Toomey singled to left field.
The Maroons added to the advantage in the fourth. A single and double to start the inning put a pair of runners in scoring position. Senior third baseman Tim Sonnefeldt brought in the lead runner with a single, putting the visitors up 3-0.
Dominican threatened to score on several occasions, including loading the bases with one out in the third. But a double-play groundout kept the Stars scoreless. A leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth eventually scored on a groundout to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The Stars stranded two runners in the seventh and then two more in the eighth. Packard came through in the latter scenario, striking out the batter swinging for the third out with men on first and second. Davis whiffed the final batter of the game looking to preserve the win.
UChicago ended up with eight hits and committed two errors. Davis went 2-for-4 to lead the hitters.