LISLE, Ill. – Mason Pechy (Sr.-Diamond Bar, Calif.) pitched seven strong innings and the Lakeland University baseball team defeated Benedictine University 4-1 in the first game of a doubleheader Sunday.

The Muskies finished the day with a split after the Eagles rallied with a nine-run seventh inning on the way to a 14-4 win in eight innings in the second game. The contests were between a pair of Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opponents but counted as non-conference games, as both are in separate divisions for this spring due to altered schedules under the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pechy had a career-best outing as a Muskie, allowing just two hits and one run with a career-high nine strikeouts and three walks. He and Tyler Penny (Fr.-River Falls, Wis.) got the better of a pitcher's duel in a game where the teams combined for seven hits.

Lakeland (2-3 overall) gave Pechy all the run support he would need in the fourth inning, breaking a 1-1 tie by scoring three times. Collin Schutz (Jr.--Saint Amant, La.) drove in Hunter Frisk (So.-Manteca, Calif.) with the lead run with a bases-loaded fielder's choice, and Nathan Hemmerling (So.-Riverside, Calif.) followed with a two-out, two-run single to score Brian Biggs (So.-Romeoville, Ill.) and Kellen Hodges (Fr.-Littleton, Colo.).

Penny came on in the eighth inning and closed the game out, throwing two hitless innings with a strikeout for his first save.

The Muskies were in shape to make it a twinbill sweep deep in the second game, leading 4-3 going into the bottom of the seventh. That's when Benedictine scored nine times on the strength of eight hits, three walks and two errors, sending 15 batters to the plate against a trio of Lakeland pitchers.

Jack Surin homered to lead off and added a walk later and Damen Castillo added a single early in the inning and a run-scoring double. The remainder of the inning was Benedictine frequently moving station to station, including a bases-loaded walk, a double-steal including a steal of home, and a wild pitch to score another run.

Lakeland took the lead in the third inning with three runs, highlighted by a two-run double by Frisk to score Hemmerling and Lane Sobieski (So.-Berlin, Wis.). Lino Figueroa (Jr.-Westchester, Ill.) also added an RBI single to score Frisk and give the Muskies a 3-1 lead.

The Eagles came back with a run in the fourth, but the Muskies pushed their lead back to two runs in the fifth when Oaklee Spens (Fr.-Burbank, Calif.) singled to lead off the inning and later scored on an error. Benedictine scored again in the fifth to make it 4-3 before exploding for nine in the seventh and then scoring two more in the eighth, with a two-out RBI single by Kevin Bushnell closing the game out on account of the ten-run rule.

Hemmerling led Lakeland with two hits in the first game, while Spens went 3-for-5 in the second game at the plate. Frisk and Figueroa also added two hits each in the second game. Peyton Domangue (Fr.-Thibodaux, La.) took the loss in the second game, allowing three hits and four runs (one earned) in two-thirds of an inning.

Lakeland next will face Rockford University for a doubleheader on Wednesday beginning at noon in Rockford, Ill.