AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Lakeland University baseball team had a second straight tough day to open its spring break trip to Florida, falling twice at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Sunday.

The Muskies first fell to Wheaton (Mass.) College 6-5 in their first game of the day and then dropping an 18-6 decision to Penn State University-Brandywine. Lakeland is now 2-6 overall on the season and 0-4 in Florida.

The Muskies twice saw leads evaporate in the latter stages of games, including the opener against Wheaton where Lakeland never trailed in the game until Marcus Rodriguez hit an RBI double with one out in the bottom of the ninth to cap a three-run rally in the Lyons' final at bat to win. The Muskies also continued early season struggles getting big hits to extend innings, including stranding a whopping 17 baserunners against Wheaton.

Lakeland took a 4-0 lead in the third inning and was in control through the first 8 ½ innings. Sean Gregorius (So.-Germantown, Wis.) continued his red-hot start to the season with three more hits, including a two-run single in the third, Rily Roberts (So.-Chattanooga, Tenn.) also drove in a pair of runs and J.T. Cortinas (Jr.-Chino Hills, Calif.) and Jordan Domingue (Jr.-Victorville, Calif.) both added two hits each.

The Muskies still led 5-2 going into the eighth inning and 5-3 heading to the bottom of the ninth, as starter Mikey Hernandez (Jr.-Lennox, Calif.) pitched well through eight innings. Trouble struck early in the ninth, though, and an infield single, a hit batter and an error helped Wheaton tie the game and chased Hernandez. Byron Lupian (Jr.-Corona, Calif.) came on in relief and another error followed, and after Ty Bellan hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game it was Wheaton's Marcus Rodriguez delivering the game-winning hit.

Lakeland finished with 10 hits in the opener and also had nine more reach base on walks. Hernandez finished throwing eight innings, allowing nine hits and five runs with four strikeouts.

The second game was more frustration for the Muskies, who led 4-1 after four innings before Penn State-Brandywine (4-4 overall) scored 17 runs over the final three innings to close the game out in seven innings. Six Lakeland errors contributed to seven unearned runs for the Nittany Lions.

The Muskies scored single runs in the second and third innings, with Cortinas hitting a sacrifice fly to score Dylan Costello (Sr.-New Berlin, Wis.) after a leadoff single and a double by Gregorius driving in Sam Goodrum (Fr.-Fort Collins, Colo.) in the third. Lakeland then scored two more in the fourth, and Domingue's double with two outs pushed the lead to 4-1.

Penn State-Brandywine took the lead in the fifth by scoring seven times, sending 10 batters to the plate to take an 8-4 lead. The Lions then tacked on four more runs in the sixth and blew it wide open with six more runs in the top of the seventh on the way to ending the game on account of the 10-run rule.

Gregorius, Sawyer Laffoon (So.-Sheldon, Ill.) and Chris Day (Sr.-Victorville, Calif.) all had two hits each in the second game. Bryce Backus (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) took the loss, allowing five hits and six runs (four earned) with four strikeouts in four-plus innings.

The Muskies are back on the field Monday for one game, taking on Loras (Iowa) College at 9 a.m. Central time, 10 a.m. locally in Florida.