Evan Rogers made a crucial catch and then hit a home run in the tenth inning as the New Orleans Privateers defeated the Illinois Fighting Illini 8-7 on Apr. 12 at Illinois Field.
The game was closely contested, with both teams exchanging leads. The Privateers’ victory came after Rogers prevented a potential game-winning hit by making an over-the-shoulder catch in shallow center field with the bases loaded and two outs. In the following inning, Rogers led off with a home run to right field on the first pitch he faced from Reed Gannon, giving New Orleans the lead.
Luke Lycette closed out the game for New Orleans by retiring Jack Zebig on a fly out, securing the win. Earlier in the game, Illinois starter Aidan Flynn struck out nine batters through four innings while allowing no baserunners. However, New Orleans responded in later innings as Jake D’Altrui tied it up with a three-run homer in the fifth inning after walks by Kruise Newman and Collin Husser.
Dylan Biddick and Jayden Adcox each added solo home runs for New Orleans to help build a 7-3 advantage before Illinois rallied late to tie it up in the eighth inning. A.J. Putty started that rally with a solo homer and J.R. Nelson brought in another run with a sacrifice fly.
Kyle Schupmann contributed two hits including a double for New Orleans while Will Johannes reached base three times and drove in two runs. Five of their seven hits went for extra bases according to team statistics released after the game. Lycette earned the win by holding Illinois to one hit over 2.2 innings pitched.
Looking ahead, New Orleans is scheduled to host Troy on Tuesday evening.
