WAUWATOSA, Wis. – A trying season for the Lakeland University baseball team ended on a positive note as the Muskies rallied late for a 6-2 win over Wisconsin Lutheran College Saturday afternoon in the season final at Neumann Family Field.

Kyle Gould (So.-Crete, Ill.) threw seven strong innings and Lakeland came from behind with four runs in the eighth inning to gain a split of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader. The Warriors won the first game 8-3, and the Muskies finished the season with a 7-29 overall record, 5-19 in the NACC.

Lakeland trailed 2-1 heading into the eighth inning of the second game but would score four times with just one hit in the inning. OakLee Spens (Jr.-Burbank, Calif.) had the hit, a two-out double to score pinch runner Jay Cournoyer (So.-Myakka City, Fla.) and tie the game.

The inning would continue, though, with Tyler LaMack (Sr.-Pewaukee, Wis.) intentionally walked and Spens later scoring on a bases-loaded wild pitch to put Lakeland ahead. Jacob Wollschlager (Fr.-Kenosha, Wis.) also was later walked with the bases loaded to send in a run, and Lane Sobieski (Sr.-Berlin, Wis.) scored another run, coming home on a passed ball.

The outburst put Gould in position to get the win after allowing just five hits and two runs through seven innings with three strikeouts, and the Muskies added another run in the ninth after another WLC miscue. Brian Biggs (Sr.-Romeoville, Ill.) singled with one out and later scored after a wild relay throw on an attempted double play.

Andrew Erbstoesser (Sr.-Union, Ill.) came on in relief in the eighth, and he would throw two scoreless innings to close the game out. Erbstoesser earned his first career collegiate save in his final game, working out of threats in both innings when WLC put two runners on with two out, including the ninth before ending the game on a fly out to left by Foster Engelhardt to end the game.

The Muskies' bounce back came after an opening game that also included a Lakeland rally, only to see Wisconsin Lutheran answer with six runs over the next four innings.

The Warriors (5-29 overall, 4-18 NACC) scored twice in the first to take the lead, but the Muskies responded with two in the fourth to tie, with Sobieski and Zak Keegan (So.-Frankfort, Ill.) both hitting RBI doubles. Wisconsin Lutheran would regain the lead in the bottom of the inning, though, on a two-out solo homer by Danny Cain, and the hosts would score single runs in the fifth and sixth as well and three more in the seventh to pull away.

Kellen Hodges (Sr.-Littleton, Colo.) would drive in a run in the eighth on an infield hit, but Lakeland let an opportunity for more get away, loading the bases with one out before a foul out and a line out ended the inning.

LaMack went 3-for-5 in the opener including a double, his 39th career double, second-most in Lakeland baseball history. Keegan also added two hits in the game. Luke Pecore (Fr.-Bowler, Wis.) took the loss, allowing six hits and four runs with five strikeouts in five innings of work.