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Box Score 2 MEQUON, Wis. – Freshman Josh Ruppel (Belgium, Wis./Cedar Grove-Belgium) and juniorGarrick Day (Elk Mound, Wis./Elk Mound) each tossed complete games as the Wisconsin Lutheran College baseball team staved off elimination by winning two games Saturday in the 2013 Northern Athletics Conference Tournament at Kapco Park. WLC won its first game over fifth-seeded Concordia University Wisconsin, 5-2, before defeating third-seeded Aurora University, 5-1.
The opening game of the day against the Falcons was a pitcher's dual early as the game was scoreless through the first three innings. The Warriors struck first in the fourth for two runs on three hits on RBIs from Brett Youngbeck (Brown Deer, Wis./Brown Deer) and Doug Martin(West Bend, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran).
CUW knotted the score at 2-2 in its half of the fifth on a two-RBI single from Brandon Seifert. WLC escaped further damage as two Falcons remained on base as the inning ended.
Wisconsin Lutheran grabbed the lead for good in the eighth after Aaron Roeseler (Watertown, Wis./Luther Preparatory) reached on a throwing error to lead-off the inning, and later scored on Youngbeck's RBI groundout. WLC then added two more insurance runs in the ninth as Mitch Skarban (Appleton, Wis./Fox Valley Lutheran) scored on an error and Connor Vredeveld(Waterloo, Wis./Lakeside Lutheran) reached home on Day's RBI single.
Ruppel, who didn't allow a hit over the final four innings, retired the Falcons in order in the last of the ninth to earn the complete-game win and improve his record to 5-3 on the season. He scattered five hits and fanned seven, while walking three. Day, Roeseler, and Vredeveld accounted for six of the Warriors' nine hits as they had two each.
Andrew Mueller allowed five runs, but just two earned over 9.0 innings to take the loss for CUW (15-27). Five different players recorded a hit each for the Falcons, who were plagued with four errors in the game, opposed to none for WLC.
In the second elimination game of the day against the Spartans, third-seeded Aurora scored first in the opening inning on a sacrifice fly. Wisconsin Lutheran broke through for the lead in the third on consecutive RBI singles from Sam Mattheis (Rosendale, Wis./Laconia) and Youngbeck.
The Warriors' 2-1 lead remained intact until the seventh when they padded their lead to 4-1 off of run-scoring hits from Youngbeck and Brandon Mantz (West Bend, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran). Mattheis added an insurance run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly that scored Mantz for the 5-2 lead.
Day was dominant on the mound for WLC as he allowed just four hits and one run while throwing 96 pitches to get through all 9.0 innings. Youngbeck finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs, while Roeseler and Martin added two hits each. Mattheis also drove in a pair of runs.
Greg Fox gave up four runs, three earned, over 6.1 innings to suffer the loss for the Spartans (25-13), who were held without a multi-hit inning. Carlos Olavarria had half of AU's hits as he went 2-for-4 at the dish.
Wisconsin Lutheran (19-16) advances to its third elimination game Saturday at 1 p.m. at Kapco Park where it will face the loser of the No. 2 Benedictine University (32-8)-No. 1 Concordia University Chicago (34-5) matchup. If you can't make it to the game, follow live stats and video at www.wlcsports.com.
