Vikings edge Luther in 10 innings

TUCSON, Ariz. — Dan Taylor singled and scored in the 10th inning to lift the Lawrence University baseball team to a 14-13 nonconference victory over Luther College on Monday at the Kino Sports Complex.

Taylor led off the top of the 10th with a single and moved to second on a bunt. Jake Gordon followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Joel Birch then grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Taylor scored on the play to give the Vikings the 14-13 edge.

Atley Gay set down the Norse in order in the bottom half of the inning to pick up the save. Drew Doares went 2.1 innings of relief to earn the victory.

Taylor, Aaron Benz and Sam Kossow all collected three hits for the Vikings (2-4), and Benz and Kossow both drove in a pair of runs. Luke Zablocki, Gordon, Birch and Gabe Warshaw all had two hits for Lawrence, and Zablocki drove in three runs.

Lawrence, which collected 19 hits, led 7-4 after two innings after scoring three times in the first and four times in the second. Kossow and Benz both had run-scoring singles in the first, and Kossow had an RBI double in the second with Benz collecting another run-scoring single.

Luther battled back to take a 9-8 lead after six innings, but Lawrence tied it on Gordon’s sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh.

The Vikings then scored four times in the eighth to grab  13-9 lead. Zablocki had a two-run single to put the Vikings up 11-9. Taylor singled to score Zablocki, and Warshaw added a sacrifice fly for a four-run lead.

The lead didn’t last as Luther (4-3) scored four times in the bottom half of the inning to tie it and set up the dramatic extra-inning victory by the Vikings.