Warriors Flirt With Upset, Drop NACC Twinbill To No. 11 Aurora

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (WLCSports.com) - Wisconsin Lutheran College dropped a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader to No. 11 Aurora on Saturday at Neumann Family Field. The Warriors were defeated in game one 13-3 in eight innings and 8-4 in game two.

WLC (3-22, 2-12 NACC) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when freshman Lucas Oswald (Muskego, Wis.) doubled home sophomore Noah Zaccanti (Geneva, Ill.).

AU (24-3, 13-1 NACC) answered with six runs on five hits in the third inning before a three-spot in the fourth gave them a 9-1 advantage.

In the fifth, junior Foster Engelhardt (North Richland Hills, Texas) followed a leadoff single from senior Ryan Dominick (Bartlett, Ill.) with a RBI double for the second run of the game. 

Aurora plated two runs in the seventh and its final two in the eighth. Wisconsin Lutheran's third run came in the last of the eighth when junior Henry Strupp's (Watertown, Wis.) RBI single brought home Zaccanti. 

Zaccanti finished 3-for-4 with two runs, while Strupp and Dominick added two hits apiece. 

The Spartans broke a scoreless game in the third inning of the nightcap with a two-RBI double. AU went ahead 4-0 in the fourth on a two-out, two-run home run.

The score remained 4-0 until the bottom of the sixth inning when Engelhardt's two-out double plated Dominick.

Aurora scored twice in the eighth to open up a 6-1 lead, before the Warriors rallied in the bottom half. Four straight singles to start the frame lifted the Spartans' starter, as Zaccanti's RBI single scored freshman Eli Michaelis (Wauwatosa, Wis.) for the first run of the inning. Strupp scored on a wild pitch and senior Danny Cain (Jackson, Wis.) followed with an infield single that brought home Zaccanti for a 6-4 deficit. AU got out of the jam by retiring the last two batters and leaving the tying run stranded on base.

Aurora tacked on two insurance runs in the ninth and WLC managed a single from Michaelis in the ninth.

Strupp, Zaccanti, Dominick, and Michaelis had two hits and scored a run for Wisconsin Lutheran. Zaccanti, Engelhardt, and Cain collected a RBI. Sophomore Will Tucholski (Geneva, Ill.) tossed a pair of scoreless relief innings.

The Warriors take on cross-town NACC foe MSOE (15-10, 7-7 NACC) tomorrow at MSOE Raiders Stadium in Glendale. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 12 p.m. Live coverage links will be available at WLCSports.com.