PLYMOUTH, Wis. – Chris Day (Sr.-Victorville, Calif.) hit a grand slam and Owen Fekety (Fr.-Lancaster, Calif.) pitched seven strong innings as the Lakeland University baseball team earned a split for the second straight day, defeating Milwaukee School of Engineering 9-5 in the second game of a doubleheader Monday on the campus home field.

The Muskies bounced back after a narrow 6-4 loss in the first game of the doubleheader to pin the Raiders with their first Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference loss of the season in eight league games. Lakeland also improved to 8-14 overall and 2-6 in the NACC.

The Muskies largely outplayed the defending NACC champions in both games of the twinbill. Lakeland outhit MSOE 24-12 over two games, including a number of players having good days, and also received two stout starting pitching performances, save for three Raiders home runs that proved to be the difference in the first game.

Lakeland missed some opportunities in the first game but began to deliver in the clutch in the second game, starting with a five-run second inning. Rily Roberts (So.-Chattanooga, Tenn.) delivered a two-out RBI single to score Sam Goodrum (Fr.-Fort Collins, Colo.) to get the Muskies on the board and tie the game, and singles by Sawyer Laffoon (So.-Sheldon, Ill.) and Logan South (So.-Oswego, Ill.) were followed by Day hitting the Muskies' second grand slam in two days and his first collegiate slam and first homer for Lakeland since his freshman year. The blast over the left field wall gave Lakeland a 5-1 lead, and the Muskies would never trail again.

Fekety delivered his best start yet as a Muskie, going seven innings and allowing just five hits and two runs (one earned) while striking out five to improve to 3-0 on the season. The victory came with a few nervous moments in the eighth inning, when the Raiders (16-6 overall, 7-1 NACC) scored three times to put a dent in the Lakeland lead, but Jacob Riddick (So.-Pickett, Wis.) got out of a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout and a pair of fly outs to limit the damage. Riddick then allowed a one-out walk in the ninth but nothing else, getting a strikeout, a fly out and then a foul out to end the game.

Day, Goodrum, Laffoon, Bryce Backus (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) and Sean Gregorius (So.-Germantown, Wis.) all had two hits each in the second game for Lakeland. Laffoon and Roberts both drove in a pair of runs and Goodrum and Chris Finn (Jr.-Mapleton, Ill.) scored two runs each.

The Muskies outhit the Raiders 12-7 in the second game and held an even bigger 12-5 advantage in the hits column in the first game. Lakeland also jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage and had seven hits after two innings, including an RBI single by Backus and Finn sending in a run on a fielder's choice, but the long ball proved the Muskies' downfall in the opener.

Jonathan Maldonado (Jr.-La Puente, Calif.) set down the first eight Raiders in order to start the game, but a single by Vance Kurokawa with two outs in the third was followed by a hit batter. Christian Bosque then pulled a 3-2 pitch to left field and over the fence to suddenly give MSOE a 3-2 lead.

The Raiders would stay a step ahead of the Muskies the rest of the way, including a solo homer by Charlie Claas to lead off the fifth plus another solo homer by Jake Franks in the seventh. Three of MSOE's five hits off Maldonado over seven innings would be homers, and both solo homers would extend the Raiders' lead to two, the latter after South's two-out single scored Laffoon to draw Lakeland within 5-4 in the sixth.

Maldonado pitched seven innings, allowing five hits and six runs (five earned) with five strikeouts. Eli Watkins (Jr.-Herrin, Ill.) added two hitless innings in relief, striking out three, while Backus and Gregorius added three hits each as part of both having five-hit days. Laffoon also added two hits in the first game and posted a four-hit day.

The Muskies are on the road for their next games on Saturday when they travel to face Dominican University for two games starting at noon at Wintrust Field in Schaumburg, Ill.