PLYMOUTH, Wis. –
Zak Keegan (
Jr.-Frankfort, Ill.) had four hits and
Aiden Swann (
Fr.-Aurora, Ill.) and
Dylan Costello (
So.-New Berlin, Wis.) both drove in four runs each but 19 runs still weren't enough for the Lakeland University baseball team in a wild 26-19 loss to Illinois Institute of Technology in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon.
The Muskies set a school record for runs in a loss but finished the day with a pair of defeats after also falling 12-3 in the first game of the doubleheader. Illinois Tech improved to 13-12 overall and 9-3 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference with its seventh straight win, while Lakeland dropped to 6-20 overall and 1-13 in the NACC.
The Muskies set a school record for the most combined runs in a game school history, breaking the mark of 39 runs in a 22-17 loss to Edgewood College April 7, 2001. Lakeland was unable to hold on after building a 13-6 lead after four innings, as the Scarlet Hawks scored four, three, six, two and five runs over the final five innings.
Keegan went 4-for-6 in the game and scored four times, including in the third inning when he led off with a single and scored to start a five-run rally to give the Muskies a 9-6 lead. He also singled to lead off the fourth and scored again to begin a four-run inning as Lakeland built a 13-6 lead.
OakLee Spens (
Sr.-South Weber, Utah) also added a two-run double in the first and
Chris Day (
So.-Victorville, Calif.) singled in two runs in the third. Swann added a big hit in the fourth with a bases-loaded single that wound up scoring three runs.
Illinois Tech answered with four runs in the fifth, though, and tied the game at 13-13 with three runs in the sixth. The Scarlet Hawks then took the lead with six runs in the seventh, though the Muskies came back with four runs in the bottom of the seventh, including RBI singles by Keegan and
Jacob Wollschlager (
So.-Kenosha, Wis.). Lakeland also answered two IIT runs in the eighth with a two-run single up the middle by Costello to close within 21-19, but Tech pulled away again with five runs in the top of the ninth.
Landon Mani (
Fr.-Germantown, Wis.) added two hits and Mani, Day and Wollschlager drove in two runs each. Spens also went 1-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
The Muskies also had an early lead in the first game, scoring first before Illinois Tech took the lead in the third and pulled away with four runs in the fourth.
Kellen Hodges (
Sr.-Littleton, Colo.) reached on an error with one out in the first and later scored on a wild pitch to put Lakeland ahead, but the Scarlet Hawks scored single runs in the second and third innings. IIT then scored four in the fourth and added six more in the sixth.
Hodges drove in a run in the fifth with a single to score Spens, and also later scored after Keegan reached on an error. Keegan added a hit and finished the day with five hits.
The Muskies return to play on Monday to face St. Norbert College for a doubleheader starting at noon in De Pere. The games have been moved up one day after being initially scheduled for Tuesday.
