APPLETON, Wis. — The Northland College baseball team scored two unearned runs in the top of the 10th inning of the nightcap to complete a nonconference doubleheader sweep of Lawrence University on Monday at Whiting Field.
The Lumberjacks (11-11) took the opener 8-3 and grabbed the nightcap 6-4 in 10 innings.
Lawrence (4-16) rallied from behind twice in the second game before Lumberjacks pulled out the win. The Vikings were down 2-0 in the fifth when they scored three times in the bottom half of the inning. Marc Linger’s two-run double was the key blow in the inning for Lawrence.
Northland came right back to score twice in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead, but Sam Kossow’s two-out single drove in Aaron Benz to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the inning.
The game went to the 10th when Northland scored a pair of unearned runs on just one hit. Lawrence made two errors, including one that negated an out at the plate, in the inning. The Vikings put the tying runs aboard in the bottom of the 10th, but Benz grounded out to end the game.
Logan Schuman worked 5.1 innings of one-run relief to earn the win. Dan Taylor didn’t allow an earned run in 3.1 innings of relief but took the loss.
Jake Gordon went 3-for-5 to pace Lawrence, and Benz and Luke Zablocki had two hits apiece.
In the opener, Northland scored five times in the third on five hits and a pair of Lawrence errors to take control. The Lumberjacks led 7-0 before Zablocki blasted a three-run homer, his fourth of the season, to cut the lead to 7-3.
Jacob Smith allowed eight hits over six innings to pick up the win. John Doran gave up seven hits over three innings and took the loss.
Benz went 2-for-4 and was the only Lawrence player with more than one hit in the first game. Peter Aerts went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs for the Lumberjacks.