FOND DU LAC, Wis. — The Marian University baseball team topped Lawrence University in a pair of tight games in a nonconference doubleheader on Wednesday at Herr-Baker Field.
The Sabres (7-5) rallied to take the opener 8-6, and Marian rallied again for a 6-5 victory in the nightcap.
In the opener, Lawrence jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but Marian scored eight times in the fourth and fifth innings to win. Josh Gruenke went 3-for-3 and Kent Lentz and Will Martin drove in two runs apiece to pace Marian’s offense. Jeff Thomas picked up the win in relief.
Eric Bohling and Joel Birch both went 2-for-3 and Bohling drove in two runs for Lawrence (2-10). Andrew Doares made the start, worked 4 2/3 innings and took the loss despite allowing only three earned runs.
Lawrence took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third on only two hits. The Vikings took advantage of a hit batsman and two wild pitches to go along with Alex Brewer’s run-scoring single.
The Vikings went up 6-0 in the fourth, and the big hit in the inning was Bohling’s two-run single. Sam Kossow added a sacrifice fly for Lawrence.
Marian countered with six runs on five hits in bottom half of the fourth. Two Lawrence errors meant only one of those six runs was earned. The Sabres then scored two more times in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead for good.
Lawrence got the tying run to the plate in the seventh but couldn’t cash in.
In the nightcap, Lawrence outhit the Sabres 13-8. Davide Harris, Gabe Henriques, Phil Wisniewski, Birch and Kossow all had two hits for the Vikings. Kelton Jenkins took the loss in relief for Lawrence.
Lawrence trailed 4-1 after the first inning but came back to take a 5-4 lead in the fifth.
The Vikings scored twice in the third after back-to-back doubles from Harris and Henriques and a sac fly from Birch to trim the lead to 4-3. Lawrence tied the game in the fourth on Tanner DeBettencourt’s run-scoring single, and took a 5-4 lead in the fifth on Wisniewski’s sacrifice fly.
Martin’s two-run double in the bottom half of the fifth gave the Sabres a 6-5 lead. Marian then wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the ninth to hang on for the win.