Baseball: Brandon Vamarasi, Evanston rally past Loyola

Updated: April 13, 2012 9:24PM

Brandon Vamarasi wasn’t pleased with his earlier at-bats Friday, even though he hit a two-run double in the first inning.

The Evanston junior finally got the one he wanted in his final trip to the batter’s box.

With runners on second and third and the Wildkits down a run in the top of the seventh, Vamarasi bounced a ground ball down the third-base line to rally Evanston to an 11-8 victory over Loyola in Glenview. It was his first game-winning hit in his first varsity season.

“I just wanted to put the ball in play,” said Vamarasi, who finished 2-for-4 with four RBI and played center field and first base. “I wasn’t happy the whole game. I didn’t think I had good at-bats. But what happens at the end is all that matters. We needed to get those runs across.”

Jack Anderson struck out two in a scoreless seventh to earn the save in a roller-coaster affair.

The Wildkits (11-6) went ahead 6-1 in the third behind home runs by Connor Hackett and Max Siedlecki.

But the Ramblers (5-13) started to slowly inch themselves back into the game. Danny Woodrow’s two-out, two-run homer in the fifth finally tied the game at 7-all.

Loyola took the lead in the sixth when Matt Fallon scored on a throwing error. But the Wildkits didn’t hang their heads.

After Vamarasi’s go-ahead single, James Hageman hit a two-out double to put Evanston up 11-8.

“I was proud of them that they found the extra effort to win,” said Evanston coach Frank Consiglio, whose club won for the third time in a row.

In the other dugout, Loyola coach Bill San Hamel lamented how another winnable game got away from the Ramblers.

“Our pitching needs to come around,” said San Hamel, who used three in the team’s fourth consecutive loss. “We are giving away too many runs and giving away too many outs. We are not throwing enough strikes and not keeping other team’s hitters off balance. Our pitching needs to improve.”

Logan Spurlin had two hits for the Ramblers, while Fallon walked three times. Spurlin, who strained his rotator cuff in the offseason, hopes to catch for the first time this season in the coming weeks.

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