PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The final home games of the season and a day celebrating its seniors finished on a sour note for the Lakeland University baseball team as Marian University swept both ends of a doubleheader Friday afternoon.
The Sabres doubled up the Muskies twice, scoring a 12-6 win in the first game and then prevailing 8-4 in the second. Two games with Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference North Division standings implications left Marian in a secure place for its postseason fate but Lakeland in an uneasy spot.
The Sabres (17-21 overall, 12-6 NACC North) remained in first place in the division and became the first team to clinch a spot in the four-team divisional tournament. The Muskies (14-16 overall, 8-10 NACC North) remained in fourth place but now are tied with Wisconsin Lutheran College (6-10 NACC North) in the loss column, with Lakeland playing two more games at Marian on Sunday and WLC with four more this weekend against Concordia University Wisconsin (9-7 NACC North).
The Muskies dropped their fourth straight game and fell below the .500 mark for the first time since April 12 after twice seeing games slip away in the late innings. Lakeland and Marian were tied going into the sixth inning in both contests, but the Sabres came up with clutch hits late in both games on a cold May day that included rain showers and even sleet.
The Muskies fought back from a 4-1 deficit in the first game to tie at 4-4 in the fourth when
Dylan Penny (
Jr.-River Falls, Wis.) hit his second home run of the season and
Nathan Hemmerling (
So.-Riverside, Calif.) later doubled to score
Kaylab Owings (
Fr.-Bagdad, Ariz.). The teams then traded runs in the fifth inning, including
OakLee Spens (
Fr.-Burbank, Calif.) scoring on a wild pitch to tie it again at 5-5, but Marian erupted for five runs in the seventh inning as a rain shower passed. The Sabres sent 11 hitters to the plate against four Muskies relief pitchers, and Robbie Knorr and Sean Meyer delivered the biggest blows with Knorr's two-run single giving Marian the lead and Meyer following with a two-run double.
Lakeland also came back to tie from down 4-1 in the second game, with
Collin Schutz (
Sr.-Saint Amant, La.) hitting a groundout to score Penny and Spens later following with a single flared to left field to score two and knot the score at 4-4. Marian responded with two runs in the sixth, though, with Jonah Landowski singling to score Mike Snow and a second run scoring after a Muskies error. The Sabres also tacked on single runs in the eighth and ninth, while Lakeland went quietly in its final four at bats, with its best chance coming in the eighth when runners were stranded at second and third.
Hemmerling led the Muskies offensively with four hits on the day, including going 3-for-4 with three runs scored in the opener.
Jack Banks (
Sr.-Mountain View, Calif.) also added three hits in the first game and
Hunter Frisk (
So.-Manteca, Calif.) finished with two hits and two RBIs over the two games.
Banks started the first game and pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and five runs (three earned).
Andrew Erbstoesser (
Fr.-Union, Ill.) took the loss, allowing a hit and two runs in two-thirds of an inning.
Mason Pechy (
Sr.-Diamond Bar, Calif.) started the second game and allowed seven hits and six runs (five earned) with eight strikeouts in defeat.
Six seniors were honored before the game and had family on hand for their final home games, including Pechy, Schutz,
Lino Figueroa (
Westchester, Ill.),
Steven Lozano (
Anaheim, Calif.) and
Gio Ramirez (
Chicago, Ill.) plus team manager
Naya Moyett. All five players appeared in the doubleheader, including Figueroa and Schutz starting both games and Lozano and Ramirez both pitching in relief in the first game.
NACC North standings:
|
Division |
Overall |
| Marian |
12-6 |
17-21 |
| MSOE |
10-6 |
13-13 |
| Concordia Wisconsin |
9-7 |
19-14 |
| Lakeland |
8-10 |
14-16 |
| Wisconsin Lutheran |
6-10 |
13-22 |
| Edgewood |
5-11 |
11-22 |
