MEQUON, Wis. – The Lakeland University baseball team fought back from an early seven-run deficit but ran out of big hits late and fell to Marian University 18-12 in its opening game of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference North Division Tournament Friday afternoon at Kapco Park.

The fourth-seeded Muskies fell to the top seed Sabres and now face a long path in the tourney with an elimination game against No. 2 seed Milwaukee School of Engineering Saturday at 10 a.m. The loser of that game is eliminated, while the winner advances to Game 5 of the tourney Saturday night against the loser of Saturday's Game 4 between Marian and No. 3 seed and host Concordia University Wisconsin.

A wild start that saw both teams' starting pitchers knocked out of the game early saw the teams combine for 23 runs in the first three innings. Marian scored six times in the bottom of the first inning and led 10-3 after two innings before Lakeland (14-19 overall) came back to score seven times in the top of the third inning.

The Muskies were opportunistic in the second and third innings, including a two-run double by Oaklee Spens (Fr.-Burbank, Calif.) and Nathan Hemmerling (So.-Riverside, Calif.) driving in four runs, with an RBI single in the second and a three-run homer in the third. Hemmerling's seventh home run of the season cut the Sabres' lead to 10-9, and Hunter Frisk (So.-Manteca, Calif.) followed later with an infield single to tie the score at 10-10.

The rest of the game would include Marian (20-21 overall) continuing to add on runs. The Sabres took the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the third for a 13-10 lead, and also tacked on five more over the fifth, sixth and seven innings.

Lakeland also generated plenty of opportunities, only to often come up short on taking advantage of them. The Muskies would score single runs in the fourth and eighth frames, with Spens hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth and Hemmerling adding a triple to score Lino Figueroa (Sr.-Westchester, Ill.) in the eighth. Lakeland also stranded the bases loaded in the fourth, though, left two on in the sixth and seven innings, and in all stranded 13 runners in the game, including four times leaving a runner at third base.

The Muskies mashed out 15 hits in the game, including Hemmerling going 4-for-5 with five runs batted in and finishing a double short of the cycle. Spens also drove in three runs, Frisk finished with three hits and Figueroa, Jack Banks (Sr.-Mountain View, Calif.) and Kaylab Owings (Fr.-Bagdad, Ariz.) all added two hits apiece.

Mason Pechy (Sr.-Diamond Bar, Calif.) started and last two-thirds of an inning, allowing three hits and six runs with four walks. Peyton Domangue (Fr.-Thibodaux, La.) followed him and took the loss after allowing six hits and seven runs over two innings, but just one run was earned.

Sean Meyer hit a pair of home runs and drove in six as part of a four-hit game for Marian, which finished with 16 hits.

NACC North Division Tournament schedule