Warriors' Furious Comebacks Fall Short Against Dominican

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (WLCSports.com) - Wisconsin Lutheran College battled back from a pair of big deficits against Dominican, but fell short in a pair of Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference games by scores of 9-5 and 15-14 on Saturday at Neumann Family Field. 

After a scoreless game one opening inning, the Stars (15-21, 7-13 NACC) accounted for all nine of their runs on all 13 of their hits over the following three innings with two in the second and third and five in the fourth.

WLC (9-27, 3-17 NACC) cracked the scoring column in the fifth when freshman Ian Rintelman (Muskego, Wis.) scored on a fielding error. Sophomore Oliver Lopeztello (Chicago, Ill.) drove in Rintelman and sophomore Lucas Oswald (Muskego, Wis.) in the sixth with a two-run single, and freshman Aiden Montgomery (St. Louis, Mo.) capped the scoring for Wisconsin Lutheran in the seventh with a two-run homerun to center, his third of the season, that scored junior Elijah Shevey (Muskego, Wis.).

Rintelman went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and five other players posted a hit each. Montgomery and Lopeztello each drove in a pair of runs.

The Warriors answered Dominican's three first-inning runs in game two with a Rintelman two-run homerun in the bottom of the first, his third of the year, which scored sophomore Tim Frerking (Oconomowoc, Wis.). The Stars added a run in the second and plated six in the third for an eight-run advantage. In the bottom of the third, junior Nolan Hodgins (Caledonia, Wis.) hit his team-leading seventh homerun of the season, a one-out solo shot to right center. Junior Noah Zaccanti (Geneva, Ill.) followed two batters later with a two-run homerun to center that scored senior Foster Engelhardt (North Richland Hills, Texas). It was his third long ball of the season.

A pair of homeruns in the fourth inning gave DU a 15-5 lead through five-and-a-half frames. WLC began to chip away at its deficit in the sixth, as sophomore Kason McFadden (Sachse, Texas) leadoff the inning with a solo homerun to left for his first of the season. In the seventh, McFadden and senior Henry Strupp (Watertown, Wis.) recorded back-to-back RBI singles to trim the deficit to seven. A RBI single from freshman Colt Ratliff (Oxford, Ga.) followed by a Strupp hit by pitch with the bases loaded cut the deficit to 15-10 heading to the ninth. Wisconsin Lutheran had four straight batters reach safely in its last at-bat, as Engelhardt had a RBI double, Ratliff recorded a RBI single, and Oswald plated a run with a sacrifice lineout to center, Ratliff scored on a throwing error which allowed Strupp to reach to bring the Warriors within one at 15-14. Frerking drew a walk to load the bases, but the Dominican retired the next batter on a fielder's choice groundout. 

Rintelman finished 4-for-6 with three runs scored and two RBI, while McFadden went 4-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. Ratliff had three hits with Hodgins, Engelhardt, and Strupp recording two hits apiece. Engelhardt also scored four runs for WLC, which tied a program record with four homeruns in a single game.

Wisconsin Lutheran continues its season-ending six-game homestand on Tuesday when it hosts NACC co-leader MSOE (21-11, 15-5 NACC) for a 12 p.m. doubleheader at Neumann Family Field. Live coverage links can be found at WLCSports.com.