Losses don't come in much more excruciating fashion than they did for the Lakeland College baseball team on Monday, as Benedictine (Ill.) University scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning in both games of a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader.
The Muskies lost 5-4 in the first game of the doubleheader and then 4-3 in the second game. Lakeland played well and was competitive in both games against the team picked to finish second in the NACC preseason poll but dropped to 4-14 overall and 0-4 in games on the conference loop.
In both cases, the Eagles scored the winning runs with singles in their last at bat. Benedictine (7-8 overall, 2-0 NACC) broke a 4-4 tie in the ninth in the opener and rallied from 3-2 down entering the final half-inning in the nightcap.
Making the losses all the tougher was that the Muskies rallied in the late innings to put themselves in position to win both games.
Lakeland entered the top of the ninth inning in the first game trailing 4-0 but scored four times to tie.
Jared Rear (
Jr.-Belleville, Wis.) doubled to drive in two runs,
Bryce Skelton (
Jr.-Delavan, Wis.) singled to score Rear and
Kyle Delahaut (
Jr.-Green Bay, Wis.) followed two batters later with a single to score Skelton and tie the game.
The Muskies also trailed 2-0 entering the eighth inning in the second game before scoring three runs in the eighth to take the lead. Skelton singled to center to score
Brady Callahan (
Sr.-Sheboygan, Wis.),
Ryan Boettcher (
Sr.-Bonduel, Wis.) grounded out to second to bring in Rear, and Skelton scored the lead run on a balk by Eagles pitcher Joe Palasiewicz.
Rear and
Luke Bacci (
Jr.-Grayslake, Ill.) both had three hits in the second game and four hits on the day. Boettcher, Callahan and Skelton all had three hits each for the afternoon.
Luke Kelly (
Jr.-Marinette, Wis.) plugged away to pitch a complete game in the opener and allowed 15 hits and five runs without a strikeout or walk. Boettcher also tossed all 8 2/3 innings in the second contest, allowing 13 hits and four runs (three earned) with four strikeouts.
Lakeland is back in action on Wednesday when it hosts Illinois Institute of Technology for a non-conference doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
