Box Scores:  Game 1 vs. Wilmington  /  Game 2 vs. Wilmington

John Carroll may have received some divine intervention Saturday, as a well-timed lightning delay played a role in an inspired comeback.

Following a pitcher's duel that resulted in a 2-1 John Carroll victory in the opener, the Blue Streaks rallied from a 7-0 deficit with eight runs over the final three innings to post an 8-7 victory in the nightcap to complete a sweep of Wilmington College in an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader played at Schweickert Field.

Tony Evanko of John Carroll and Brad Hatfield of Wilmington locked horns in a low-scoring affair in which they teams were held to a combined three runs on 13 hits. Neither team dented the scoreboard until Mike Carbo led off the fifth inning with a double and later scored on a wild pitch.

The Quakers answered with a run in the sixth inning when Bryce Martin singled home Hatfield (who served as his own "DH") for the tying run.

In the bottom of the sixth, Russell Toth delivered a pinch hit lead off double. Two batters later, pinch runner Rob Cool would score the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly to center field by Christopher Cairo that was dropped.

Evanko worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning to improve to 6-0 on the year. He worked seven innings and gave up five hits and one earned run, striking out four and walking two.

In the second game, it was all Wilmington early on as JCU senior aces Matt Fort and Brandon Kurtz were both roughed up. Fort yielded his highest run total of the year by allowing four tallies on six hits in four innings. Kurtz then surrendered three more runs (just one earned) in his three innings of work.

In the meantime, Quakers starter Zach Stakely was mowing down the Blue Streaks. he allowed no runs and just three hits in his first six innings.

But in the bottom of the seventh, with threatening clouds starting to invade, Stakely began to fade and John Carroll began to hit. Two runs were already pushed across the plater and bases were loaded with just one out when the call was made to halt the game due to lightning in the area.

Wilmington still led 7-2, but Stakely would be out of the game and momentum had clearly shifted. When play resumed 20 minutes after the lightning was reported, it would be all Blue Streaks.

Sean McCarthy and Joe Bott both delivered two RBI singles off releiver C.J. lawson to cut the Quakers lead to 7-6 after the seventh inning.

In the eighth inning, a Cairo RBI sacrifice fly scored #Tim O'Brien from third to tie the contest at 7-7.

Marty Smith worked out of a jam in the top of the ninth to set the table for Ryan Lewis to manufacture the game-winning run.

After Lewis drew a lead-off walk from Lawson, he would steal second off reliever Kenny Branscom. Michael Krainz would single Lewis over to third. McCarthy drew a walk, putting runners at all bases with no one out.

With Joe Bott at the plate, Branscom uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Lewis to score the winning run.

Combined with Heidelberg's sweep of Baldwin-Wallace, Muskingum's sweep of Mount Union and Otterbein's sweep of Marietta, John Carroll has moved into a second-place tie with Marietta in the OAC standings -- one game out of first place behind 11-3 Heidelberg. JCU is also now two full games clear of fourth place Mount Union, whom the Blue Streaks host on April 26.

John Carroll is now 20-9 overall and 10-4 in the OAC, while Wilmington drops to 8-17 overall and 3-11 in the league.