Big First Inning Boosts Baseball To First NACC Win

MEQUON, Wis. (WLCSports.com) - Wisconsin Lutheran College scored a season-high 13 runs, including nine in the first inning, for its first Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference win of the season on Wednesday over Concordia Wisconsin at Kapco Park. The Warriors won the opener 13-10, before falling to the Falcons 15-2 in the nightcap.

WLC (2-13, 1-3 NACC) found itself trailing 4-0 after CUW (10-8, 2-2 NACC) scored four times on five hits in the top of the first inning of game one. The deficit didn't last long, however, as 10 of the first 11 batters reached base for Wisconsin Lutheran in the bottom of the inning. The Warriors pounded out six hits and tallied nine runs, with RBI from senior Danny Cain (Jackson, Wis.), senior Carter Raabe (Mukwonago, Wis.), freshman Kason McFadden (Sachse, Texas), sophomore Elijah Shevey (Muskego, Wis.), and freshman Eli Michaelis (Wauwatosa, Wis.). 

Concordia Wisconsin plated two runs on three hits in the third inning for a 9-6 deficit, but WLC got those runs back and more two innings later. McFadden drove home sophomore Tyler Danko (Milwaukee, Wis.) on a RBI single and freshman Lucas Oswald (Muskego, Wis.) scored on a throwing error for a five-run advantage. Wisconsin Lutheran tacked on two more runs with two outs in the sixth on a RBI double from Raabe and a run-scoring single from Oswald.

The Falcons plated two runs in both the eighth and ninth innings, but sophomore Will Tucholski (Geneva, Ill.) worked out of a bases-loaded jam for his first save of the season.

McFadden, Danko, Shevey, and Raabe had two hits each for the Warriors, who registered a season-high 12 as a team. McFadden and Raabe also drove in three runs apiece. Junior Noah Eggert (Waukesha, Wis.) won his first game of the season after tossing 5.2 relief innings and allowing just two runs. 

WLC carried a 2-0 lead into the fifth inning of the nightcap, as senior Ryan Dominick (Bartlett, Ill.) drove in a first-inning run on a groundout and Oswald's fourth-inning RBI single plated Danko. Freshman starter Storm Portsche (Lincoln, Neb.) left a pair of CUW runners stranded on base each of the first two innings before retiring side in order in the third and fourth.

Concordia Wisconsin finally broke through in the fifth with four runs, including a go-ahead two-out, three-run home run. It began a stretch of five straight run-scoring innings for the Falcons, who salvaged the split with the win in the nightcap.

Sophomore Noah Zaccanti (Geneva, Ill.) led Wisconsin Lutheran with two hits, while five other players added a hit each. 

The Warriors are scheduled to host Edgewood (8-7, 2-2 NACC) on Saturday for a 12 p.m. NACC doubleheader at Neumann Family Baseball Field. Live coverage links will be available at WLCSports.com.