GLENDALE, Wis. – The Lakeland University baseball team kept battling back but came up short in an 11-8 loss at Milwaukee School of Engineering on a rainy Sunday afternoon at MSOE Raiders Stadium.
The Muskies dropped both ends of a doubleheader against the Raiders, also falling 10-0 in eight innings in the first game. Lakeland dropped to 6-25 overall and is 4-16 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference with two more conference doubleheaders remaining and five games left in its season.
The Muskies fell behind 5-0 in the opening inning of the second game but came back to within a run and later chipped away again after MSOE (20-12 overall, 12-8 NACC) rebuilt its lead.
Lakeland scored twice in both the third and fourth innings, including continuing a big weekend with a two-run single in the third to get the Muskies on the board.
Noah Leopold (
So.-Appleton, Wis.) and
Chris Day (
Fr.-Victorville, Calif.) both added RBI singles in the fourth, the latter drawing Lakeland to within 5-4.
The Raiders answered with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, but the Muskies put up two more in the fifth.
OakLee Spens (
Jr.-Burbank, Calif.) and
Lane Sobieski (
Sr.-Berlin, Wis.) walked and
Kejuan Harvey (
Jr.-Elgin, Ill.) was hit by a pitch, and with one out
Griffin Robinson (
So.-Pike Road, Ala.) put down a sacrifice bunt that wound up driving in two runs with aggressive baserunning, with both Spens and Sobieski scoring on the play.
MSOE would again push the lead back to five runs with a pair in the sixth, but Lakeland closed back in with two in the eighth with a two-run single by Spens to score
Tyler LaMack (
Sr.-Pewaukee, Wis.) and
Zak Keegan (
So.-Frankfort, Ill.). The Muskies also would threaten with two outs in the ninth, getting the tying run to the plate. Robinson walked and
Landen Sobieski reached on an error, but a fly out to right by Keegan ended the game.
The Raiders dominated the day's first game, scoring three runs in both of the first two innings and cruising the rest of the way. Lakeland would generate just five hits in the game, two from LaMack and one each by Spens, Keegan and Robinson, and MSOE closed the game out on the 10-run rule in the eighth inning.
The Muskies return to play Wednesday when they host the University of Wisconsin-Parkside for a single nine-inning game at home starting at 2 p.m.
