AUBURNDALE, Fla. –
Kellen Hodges (
Sr.-Littleton, Colo.) homered and drove in three runs to power a 19-hit attack and the Lakeland University baseball team finished its spring break trip to Florida with a 13-6 win over the State University of New York at Canton Friday at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational.
The Muskies picked up one final win in Florida to stop a brief three-game losing streak that included a 16-6 loss to Principia (Ill.) College earlier in the morning Friday. Lakeland finished with a 5-7 mark on its trip, a big improvement after posting a 0-8 mark on spring break last season.
The Muskies scored six times in the top of the second inning and never trailed again in defeating the Roos (0-12 overall). Lakeland pounded out a season-high 19 hits, including at least two hits in seven of the nine innings.
Hodges hit his first collegiate home run in more than 300 at bats and the second homer by a Muskie on the trip, with his two-run blast in the sixth helping Lakeland begin to open the lead back up after SUNY Canton had closed to within 7-6 following a grand slam by Nick Barone in the fifth. Hodges also added an RBI single in the ninth inning to close out the scoring, finishing 2-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Tucker Gegenfurtner (
Fr.-Onalaska, Wis.) also went 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored and
Chris Day (
So.-Victorville, Calif.) and
Landon Mani (
Fr.-Germantown, Wis.) added three hits each.
Dylan Costello (
So.-New Berlin, Wis.),
Zak Keegan (
Jr.-Frankfort, Ill.) and
Jacob Wollschlager (
So.-Kenosha, Wis.) also also finished with two hits a piece and combined to drive in four runs and score four runs.
Cam Frazier (
Fr.-Charlotte, Mich.) started and went five innings, earning his first collegiate run after allowing eight hits and six runs (five earned) with three strikeouts.
Anthony Yust (
So.-Kenosha, Wis.) and
Armaan Sharma (
So.-Pinole, Calif.) combined to cover the final four innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four.
The Muskies picked it up in their final game after a dreary start to the day, when Principia (6-7 overall) hammered out 19 hits and took advantage of six Lakeland errors to score seven unearned runs.
The Panthers scored five times in the bottom of the first to build an early lead, and then tallied seven times in the fifth to blow the game open and take a 13-1 lead. The Muskies scored all of their runs over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, including Hodges hitting a single in the fifth to score Mani and get Lakeland on the board.
The Muskies also scored twice in the sixth without a hit, including
Nathan Walter (
Fr.-Watertown, Wis.) scoring on a wild pitch and Gegenfurtner adding a sacrifice fly. Keegan also singled in a run in the seventh and Costello added a bases-loaded walk to cut Principia's lead to 13-6, before the Panthers scored once in the bottom of the seventh and then closed the game out on the 10-run rule with two runs in the eighth.
Hodges went 3-for-4 in the first game, finishing the day with five hits.
Kaden Kowalewsky (
Fr.-Madison, Wis.) started and took the loss, allowing seven hits and eight runs (two earned) with three strikeouts and four walks.
The Muskies return back home and begin their Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference schedule next Saturday playing at Benedictine University for two games starting at noon in Lisle, Ill.
