WAUKESHA, Wis. – Nathan Hemmerling (Jr.-Riverside, Calif.) drove in three runs including a go-ahead two-run single in the sixth inning and the Lakeland University baseball team shook off the rust quickly for a 12-7 win over Carroll University Friday afternoon at Carroll's Frame Park.

The Muskies put up crooked numbers in four different innings and made good use of four Carroll errors to win while playing for the first time in 21 days. Lakeland improved to 8-4 overall and defeated the Pioneers for the first time since 2006.

The Muskies took the lead for good with a four-run sixth inning, immediately answering after Carroll (7-11 overall) had rallied to take a 5-3 lead with five runs in the fifth. Hunter Frisk (Jr.-Manteca, Calif.) led off the sixth with a single and scored on a double by Kaylab Owings (So.-Bagdad, Ariz.). Collin Schutz (Sr.-Saint Amant, La.) later reached on a bases loaded fielder's choice to score Zak Keegan (Fr.-Frankfort, Ill.) to tie the game, and Hemmerling followed with a two-out single up the middle to score both Owings and Schutz to give Lakeland a 7-5 lead.

The host Pioneers scored a run in the sixth to draw within one, but Lakeland began to pull away with three runs in the top of the eighth including another RBI single by Hemmerling to score Keegan. Lane Sobieski (Jr.-Berlin, Wis.) would then score on a wild pitch while Hemmerling was stealing second, and Jack Banks (Sr.-Mountain View, Calif.) would send in Hemmerling with a double to right-center for a 10-6 Muskies lead.

Lakeland added two more runs in the top of the ninth, as Frisk led off with an infield single and scored after a wild pitch and a throwing error by the catcher. Owings would drive in the final run with a single to score Kellen Hodges (So.-Littleton, Colo.), and the Pioneers would score a run in the bottom of the ninth but get no closer.

The Muskies started strong with three runs in the top of the first on just one hit, with Carroll contributing to the cause with three errors in the inning. Hemmerling reached on an error to start the game and came in quickly after an RBI single by No. 2 hitter Banks. Banks and Hodges would both score runs on errors in the inning to give Lakeland a quick 3-0 lead.

Banks started on the mound for the Muskies and sailed through the first 4 2/3 innings before running into trouble in the fifth, when the Pioneers scored five times all with two outs to briefly take the lead. Banks left the game with two outs in the fifth and Brody Fay (Fr.-Surprise, Ariz.) would finish the inning and earned his second win of the season allowing a run in 1 1/3 innings.

Peyton Domangue (So.-Thibodaux, La.) and Gio Ramirez (Sr.-Chicago, Ill.) covered the final three innings, including two scoreless innings from Domangue and Ramirez pitching the ninth.

Keegan finished with three hits and Hemmerling, Banks and Owings all added two hits each. Carroll outhit Lakeland 14-12, but the Pioneers also issued six walks and hit two batters.

The win over Carroll was the first since a 9-5 win in the first game of a doubleheader with the Pioneers April 25, 2006. The teams had played just three times since then, including Carroll wins in the second game of that doubleheader and single wins in 2017 and on spring break in 2020.

The Muskies were to open Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play on Saturday at home against Benedictine University, but that game has been postponed due to field conditions and forecasted rain and snow on Saturday. Lakeland now will take on the Eagles on the road Monday at 2 p.m. in Lisle, Ill., and before that the Muskies are scheduled to travel to face Illinois Institute of Technology on Sunday for a doubleheader starting at noon.