SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - Marian University baseball (11-28, 2-17 NACC) closed out the 2016 season with a split at Dominican taking the opener 7-6 in 10 innings before falling in the second game 5-2.

The offenses started fast, with Dominican holding a 3-2 lead after two innings, before both pitching staffs settled down and made the game a pitcher's duel.  A two-out two RBI single to center from Jake Falish put the Sabres on the board as the freshman continued his hot hitting.

The Stars would extend their lead with a run in the bottom of the fifth before the Sabres began their come back.  Marian would load the bases in the top of the seventh with nobody out but could only manage one run to cut the deficit to 4-3.  Then with one chance left, Falish led off the top of the ninth with a double and was moved to third off a fly ball from Jake Litkenhus.  Mitchel Buss would draw a walk with two outs before Earl Vorpagel placed a bunt perfectly down the third base line to score Falish and tie the game.

In extras, the Sabres started a rally in the tenth opening with a Walker walk.  Falish followed him up with a single before Litkenhus loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch.  Grannis then battled at the plate and after fighting off some tough pitches was able to drive the ball into the left center field gap clearing the bases with a triple.

DU wouldn't go away silently as they would plate a pair of runs in the bottom of the tenth, but stranded the tying run 90 feet away at third base.

Falish led the way at the top of the Sabre lineup in the opener of the twin bill going 3-6 with two runs scored and two runs batted in, while Walker also had a multi-hit game going 2-4 with a pair of runs scored.

Jordan Bock improved to 4-3 on the season throwing the final 6.0 innings of the game scattering four hits and only allowing two runs with four punch outs.

The second half of the twin bill was also a tight affair but the Marian offense struggled to plate runs late leading to the split.

The Sabres jumped out to the first lead of the game when Grannis and Buss each drove in a run in the top of the third.  Dominican was able to answer in the bottom half of the inning, however, and quickly tied the game at 2-2.  The Stars then took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth when they scored three runs off of three hits.

From there Dominican was able to shut down the Marian bats and take the second half of the twin bill by the 5-2 final.

Grannis and Falish each had multi-hit games going 2-5 with Grannis also driving in a run.

--FightBlueFight--