By: Andrew Korba

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Hiram College baseball team split a pair of games at the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Florida on Friday.

The Terriers (1-7) topped Wisconsin-Lutheran (4-4) in the nightcap 8-7 and fell to Rockford (6-3) 8-4.

Against Rockford, the Regents were able to jump out to a 7-0 lead through six and a half innings.

The Terriers had an answer in the bottom of the seventh, scoring three times.

Sophomore Kyle Watson (Warren, Ohio/Howland) drew a one out walk and moved to second on a single from sophomore Phil Ward (Garfield Heights, Ohio/Garfield Heights).

Senior Trevor Foster (Warren, Ohio/Champion) followed with a double to drive in Watson. Junior Brandon Chesmar (Elyria, Ohio/Amherst Steele) would come up and single, to score both Ward and Foster.

Hiram drew closer in the eighth, getting a RBI single from Watson.

The Regents were able to score a run in the ninth and worked out of a Terrier rally in the bottom of the inning.

Chesmar went 3-for-5 with two RBI's in the contest. Sophomore Brandon Kish (Poland, Ohio/Struthers) also collected three hits for Hiram.

Against Wisconsin-Lutheran, the two teams traded a run in the second inning, with Hiram's coming on a RBI groundout from freshman Austin DeGregory (Girard, Ohio/Girard).

The Warriors would score twice in the third, but Hiram answered with four goal in the bottom half of the frame.

Freshman Zayvier Cintron (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland Central Catholic) and Ward had RBI hits, while Foster and freshman Bryan Fryda (Youngstown, Ohio/Boardman) also recorded RBI's in the inning.

The Warriors tied the game in the fourth with two more runs, but Hiram was able to take the lead for good in the next half inning.

With two outs in the inning, Foster hit a RBI single and Chesmar followed with a RBI double to give Hiram a 7-5 lead.

The Warriers pulled within one run at 7-6 in the seventh, but a sac fly from Cintron in the bottom of the seventh to push the Terrier lead back to 8-6.

Wisconsin-Lutheran scored another run in the eighth. Junior Ryan Fedor (Mantua, Ohio/Crestwood) worked around a two out single in the ninth to finish off the win for his first career save.

Chesmar went 3-for-4 with a RBI and two runs scored. He also struck out four batters in four innings of work.

Freshman Bryan Engdahl (Escondido, Calif./San Pasqual) recorded two hits and scored twice, while Ward finished with two hits, a run scored and a run batted in.

Freshman Justin Joyce (Fort Myers, Fla./Evangelical Christian) gave up two runs in four innings of relief for his first career victory.

The Terriers will close out their spring trip on Saturday, March 12 with a doubleheader against Newbury (Mass.) at 9 a.m.. Both games will be seven innings.