Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DAVENPORT, Fla. – Kyle Gould (So.-Crete, Ill.) pitched well in his first collegiate start but Fredonia State (N.Y.) University rallied with two runs in its final at bat for a 2-1 win to complete a sweep of the Lakeland University baseball team Monday afternoon at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational games.

Fredonia State also defeated Lakeland 13-8 in the first game of a day marred by multiple rain and lightning delays at Northeast Regional Park. The Muskies lost both scheduled seven-inning games and dropped to 0-4 on the season and on their eight-game spring break trip to Florida.

Gould threw six-plus innings in his pitching debut, keeping the Blue Devils (2-3 overall) off the board through six in a pitchers' duel with Fredonia's Morgan Zientara. Lakeland took the lead with a run in the bottom of the first when OakLee Spens (Jr.-Burbank, Calif.) was hit by a pitch, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI groundout by Tyler LaMack (Sr.-Pewaukee, Wis.), and Gould scattered five hits with three strikeouts while also stranding eight runners through six innings.

Gould worked out of potential jams in the third and fourth when Fredonia State put runners at second with one out, and then got out of a sticky situation in the fifth when the Blue Devils put runners at second and third with nobody out. He retired leadoff hitter Alex Gannon on a fly out to center, struck out No. 2 hitter Mario Williams, and then received a spectacular defensive play from Kellen Hodges (Jr.-Littleton, Colo.), who caught a line drive into the gap by Garrett Stuckey with a fully extended diving catch to keep it a 1-0 game.

The Muskies also struggled to add onto their lead, though, with only single hits in the second and third innings and just one runner stranded through six. The Blue Devils finally broke through in the seventh, with pinch hitter Jake Wentland leading off with a single. Gannon then bunted with the intent to sacrifice but reached on a throwing error, and both Wentland and Gannon advanced on the error, putting runners at second and third with nobody out.

Gould exited at that point with Andrew Erbstoesser (Sr.-Union, Ill.) coming on, and the sidearm thrower got Williams to hit a sacrifice fly to right to tie the game. Erbstoesser then struck out Stuckey, but Tucker Schwab reached on a walk and Matt Wojcik drove in the go-ahead run with a single into left center to score Gannon.

Hodges reached on a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lane Sobieski (Sr.-Berlin, Wis.). Zientara got Armaan Sharma (Fr.-Pinole, Calif.) to bounce back to the mound for the second out, though, and then retired Austin Palmer (So.-Oro Valley, Ariz.) on a line drive to Williams in center to end the game.

The second game capped a long afternoon that included game two halted by a nearly one-hour rain and lightning delay in the top of the first inning, and the opening game also was stalled for 35 minutes due to rain, as well as two other shorter stoppages due to periodic rain showers. The first game took more than four hours to complete after all the delays, and also was long for the Muskies after the Blue Devils quickly erased an early Lakeland and put up crooked numbers on the scoreboard in four different innings.

The Muskies scored first in the first when Spens tripled to lead off the game and came home on a steal after a walk by Hodges on a bizarre play where LaMack also was called out at second, a situation that took more than 10 minutes for the umpires to sort out. Fredonia State answered with two runs in the bottom of the first, though, and four in the second to take a 6-1 lead.

The Blue Devils would stretch the lead to 9-2 in the fourth before Lakeland answered with two in the fifth when Brian Biggs (Sr.-Romeoville, Ill.) and Spens both scored as Sharma reached on an error with two outs.

The rains came down heavily in the bottom of the fifth, and when the teams returned Fredonia scored four in the sixth to extend the lead to 13-4. Lakeland rallied in the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out and Noah Leopold (So.-Appleton, Wis.) was hit by a pitch to send in a run. Sharma then delivered a two-run single and Landen Sobieski (So.-Berlin, Wis.) added a sacrifice fly for the final run.

Spens went 2-for-3 in the first game and scored three runs, and Hodges also went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and two runs scored. Four different pitchers saw the mound for the Muskies, with freshman starter Anthony Yust (Kenosha, Wis.) taking the loss, allowing two runs with a walk and two strikeouts in an inning.

Lakeland is off Tuesday but returns to the field Wednesday to take on Knox (Ill.) College for a doubleheader in Davenport starting at 3 p.m. Central time, 4 p.m. Eastern.