SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – The ninth inning proved to be a nightmare for the Lakeland University baseball team as Dominican University twice scored the go-ahead runs in its last at bat to send the Muskies to a pair of losses Tuesday at Wintrust Field.
The Stars prevailed 3-2 in the first game and then rallied with six runs in the top of the ninth for a 7-2 victory in the second game of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader. Dominican improved to 16-10 overall and is 7-5 in the NACC while Lakeland dropped to 14-11 overall and 4-7 in conference.
The Muskies and Stars played one day later than originally scheduled and at a different site after snow postponed the teams' meeting Monday at Lakeland. The games were moved to Dominican's home field with the Muskies serving as the home team, but the finishes of a pair of pitchers' duels were anything but hospitable for Lakeland.
The Stars first spoiled a terrific outing by
Nathan Hemmerling (
Jr.-Riverside, Calif.), who struck out a season-high 15 batters in eight innings in the opener. Dominican rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie with two runs in the sixth against Hemmerling, and the road team playing at home manufactured the winning run in the ninth off a pair of Muskies relievers when Seth Hoffman led off with a double, advanced to third on an error and came in to score on a wild pitch.
Lakeland took an early 2-0 lead in the second game after stringing together four straight hits.
Jack Banks (
Sr.-Mountain View, Calif.) singled and
Tyler LaMack (
So.-Pewaukee, Wis.) doubled, and
Lane Sobieski (
So.-Berlin, Wis.) followed with an RBI single to score banks.
Hunter Frisk (
Jr.-Manteca, Calif.) then delivered an RBI single of his own to bring in LaMack.
The Muskies would not score again, though, as Joey Haslam threw a complete game for Dominican, allowing eight hits with seven strikeouts.
Collin Schutz (
Sr.-Saint Amant, La.) was even better through eight innings, though, allowing just three hits and a single unearned run in the third inning, and he carried a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning when the Stars struck again.
Hoffman led off with a triple and C.J. Kalekas followed with an RBI single to tie the game, and that would be just the start. Dominican would send 11 batters to the plate, scoring six times against three Lakeland pitchers, with the final blow was a bases-loaded three-run double by Garrett Wano for a 7-2 lead.
Schutz finished allowing six hits and four runs (two earned) with three strikeouts over eight-plus innings. Sobieski led Lakeland at the plate going 3-for-4 in the second game as both teams finished with eight hits each.
The Muskies return home Saturday for a doubleheader against Rockford University starting at noon.
