KENOSHA, Wis. – Logan South (So.-Oswego, Ill.) drove in the go-ahead run on a bunt single in the eighth inning and the Lakeland University baseball team battled to win the second game and earn a split of a non-conference doubleheader against Carthage College Thursday at Augie Schmidt Field.

The Muskies picked up a 6-3 win in the second game, bouncing back after a 17-5 loss to the Firebirds in the first game of the twinbill. Lakeland is now 10-18 overall on the season with 12 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference games remaining in the regular season.

A second game that was close throughout saw the Muskies take the lead for good by scoring three times in the top of the eighth. Bryce Backus (So.-Kenosha, Wis.) was hit by a pitch and fellow Kenosha native Jacob Wollschlager (Sr.-Kenosha, Wis.) walked, and Hayden Smith (Jr.-South Range, Wis.) singled to load the bases with one out. South then laid down a bunt and Backus came in to score, and Wollschlager also scored on the play to make it 5-3.

Chris Day (Sr.-Victorville, Calif.) followed with an infield single to also bring in Smith, and the lead held up the rest of the way with reliever Eli Watkins (Jr.-Herrin, Ill.) shutting down Carthage (8-16 overall). Watkins pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings, including retiring Firebirds center fielder Jimmy Herget after a 13-pitch battle in the ninth, and finished with the win after covering the final 3 1/3 innings, allowing three hits and one run with two strikeouts.

Mikey Hernandez (Jr.-Lennox, Calif.) started and pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and two runs (one earned) with eight strikeouts. He left the game with a 3-2 lead after the Muskies scored twice in the top of the fifth to go ahead, with Smith leading off with a single and later scoring on a wild pitch to tie it and Jordan Domingue (Jr.-Victorville, Calif.) lifting a sacrifice fly to left to score South to make it 3-2.

Smith and Day led the Muskies with two hits each in the second game, and Lakeland won despite being outhit by Carthage 10-7. Hernandez and Watkins combined for 10 strikeouts without a walk, providing a much-needed clean pitching performance after the Muskies struggled in the opener.

The Firebirds built a 13-0 lead after three innings in the first game after scoring nine times in the second and four more in the third. A.J. Gaca provided the biggest blow for the hosts with a grand slam in the second, his second hit of the inning and giving Carthage a 9-0 lead.

Hernandez provided a bright spot in the fourth inning, hitting a three-run home run to right center for his fourth home run of the season. Backus added an RBI single in the fifth and Sawyer Laffoon (So.-Sheldon, Ill.) drove in Lakeland's final run with a single up the middle in the seventh, but the game ended soon after on account of the 10-run rule after seven innings.

Lakeland has the weekend off and is back in action Tuesday when it hosts St. Norbert College for a NACC doubleheader starting at noon.