Baseball Suffers Road Sweep At Lakeland

PLYMOUTH, Wis. (WLCSports.com) - The Wisconsin Lutheran College baseball team dropped a pair of one-run NACC contests on the road against the Lakeland Muskies Wednesday afternoon in Plymouth, 1-0 and 5-4. 

THE BASICS

• Final Scores: Lakeland 1, Wisconsin Lutheran 0; Lakeland 5, Wisconsin Lutheran 4
• Records: Wisconsin Lutheran (9-19, 6-8 NACC), Lakeland (7-15, 3-8 NACC)
• Location: Muskie Baseball Field, Plymouth, Wis.

GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS

• The Muskies threatened early in the contest, loading the bases in the bottom of the first inning, but Ben Veenstra (Evansville, Wis.) escaped the jam with a strikeout.
• WLC put two runners on base in the top of the third frame but were unable to score.
• Neither team was able to gather much momentum in the following innings until the eighth when Brock Vredeveld (Waterloo, Wis.) doubled down the left field line with two outs, but the Warriors were unable to plate any runs.
• Brett Jakel (Reeseville, Wis.) opened the top of the ninth by reaching base on an error, then KJ Banse (Racine, Wis.) drew a walk with just one out. Both runners advanced in scoring position on a wild pitch, but a foul out and a line out to center field ended the threat for the Warriors.
• The Muskies ended the game in the bottom of the ninth after a single to start the inning, then a sacrifice bunt and a stolen base put a runner on third with just one out. Matt Benninghoff singled through the right side to score the runner from third, giving LU the 1-0 victory.
• Veenstra suffered the tough loss for the Warriors in the opener, scattering five hits and one run over 8.0 strong innings. He fanned six and walked two.
• Vredeveld led the Warriors offensively with two hits.

GAME 2 HIGHLIGHTS

• Lakeland started the scoring in the bottom of the first inning of game two after loading the bases with one out, then a sacrifice fly scored a run.
• The Warriors responded in the top of the second inning after a leadoff double from Banse, followed by an RBI single from Sid Lehman (Theresa, Wis.). Gunner Amelunk (Wales, Wis.) drove in two runs with a single to left field, scoring Johnny Offenbacher (Waukesha, Wis.) and Kasey Zdroik (Plainfield, Wis.).
• The Muskies got a run back in the third inning after two runners reached base to open the frame, then a groundout to the shortstop drove one run in, with Wisconsin Lutheran maintaining a 3-2 lead.
• Amelunk continued his hot hitting with a double to left field to lead off the fifth, then a single from Jake Wiedower (St. Francis, Wis.) drove him in, extending the Warriors' lead to 4-2.
• Lakeland responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning after a leadoff solo homerun to left field, then three straight batters reached base, followed by a fielder's choice combined with a WLC throwing error that plated two runs.
• The Warriors were unable to put any runners in scoring position in the final innings, with Lakeland taking game two, 5-4.
• Wiedower and Amelunk collected two hits apiece for the Warriors, while Amelunk drove in two runs.
• Ryan Ruechel (Pulaski, Wis.) took the loss for WLC, allowing two earned runs over 2+ innings in relief.

FOR THE FOES

• Benninghoff drove in the lone run for LU in game one while Noah Suissa collected the win, throwing 2/3 of an inning in relief.
• Six different Muskies collected hits in game two, with Jack Banks earning the win, throwing 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball.

UP NEXT

• The Warriors travel to Ripon (7-15) Thursday afternoon for a single non-conference game at 4:00 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at WLCSports.com.