It is rare that any good comes from a loss, but the silver lining from a game one set back may have given the Blue Streaks baseball team much needed momentum to earn a split of Saturday's doubleheader against Medaille College.

JCU lost game one by a 14-7 score, but by scoring four runs in the final two innings would set the table for a 12-4 victory in the nightcap.

Box Scores:  Game 1  /  Game 2

The Blue Streaks were never into the opener, as Medaille put a five spot on the board in the first inning, then added three more for an 8-1 lead midway through the second inning.

JCU trailed 14-3 entering the bottom of the sixth when the bats began to wake. the big shot was a three-run pinch hit homer by Dominic Varacallo (DuBois, PA, DuBois Central Catholic). Tom Hickey (Orland Park, IL, Brother Rice) followed in the seventh with an RBI single that seemingly only cut a deficit to seven runs but signalled what was to come.

In the second game. JCU trailed 1-0 when it came to bat in the bottom half of the first inning. After a Brian Benander (Richmond Heights, OH, Cleveland St. Ignatius)hit tied the game at 1-1, Hickey kept his hot bat going with a triple that plated Benander and Tim O'Brien (Chicago, IL, Loyola Academy).

Medaille tied the game at 3-3 on a two-out two-run double by Matt Urbanski, but Mike Carbo (Coral Springs, FL, J.P. Taravella)'s triple untied the game in the bottom of the second.

Ahead 4-3, John Carroll continued its outburst with two more runs in the third with RBI single by Ryan Pacyga (Forest Park, IL, Nazareth Academy) and Joe Veltri (Rochester Mills, MI, Notre Dame Preparatory).

The Mavericks cut the lead to 6-4 in the fourth, but a single run in the fifth and five more in the seventh would enable JCU to blow the game open and earn the split. 

Benander (4-5, 3 RBI), Hickey (2-4, 3 RBI) and Veltri (3-4, 2 RBI) all played key roles in the comeback effort.

Chris Eggleton (Brecksville, OH, Brecksville ) worked five innings and struck out four while allowing four runs to earn his first win of 2010. Tom Schaberl (Richmond Heights, OH, Cleveland St. Ignatius), Michael Eden (Aurora, OH, Aurora) and Chris Koller (Buffalo, NY, St. Joseph Collegiate Institute) worked the final four innings of scoreless relief to preserve the win.

JCU is now 6-5 on the year, while Medaille moves to 6-4 this season.