AUBURNDALE, Fla. — The Lawrence University baseball team completed its spring break trip with a nonconference doubleheader sweep of Crown College on Saturday.
Lawrence won the opener 10-5 and took the nightcap 10-6. The Vikings (6-6) finished with a 5-3 record on their trip to Florida.
In the opener, Matt Holliday paced the Lawrence offense by going 3-for-4 with two doubles, three runs batted in and two runs scored. Anthony Ortiz and Kyle Duex both went 2-for-4 for Lawrence, and Dan Rothbauer reached base in all five of his plate appearances with three runs scored and two RBIs.
Lawrence broke on top with four runs in the top of the second. The Vikings loaded the bases, and Zach Rabideau followed with a run-scoring single. Rothbauer smacked a two-run single, and Holliday followed with an RBI single for a 4-0 lead.
Crown (4-4) cut the lead in half with a pair of runs in the third, but the Vikings got those back in the fourth on Holliday’s RBI double and Andrew Lauber’s run-scoring groundout.
The Storm trimmed the lead to 6-5 with three more runs in the bottom half of the inning, but that was it for Crown. Lawrence added two insurance runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to seal the win. Lauber had a run-scoring single in the sixth, and Holliday smacked an RBI double in the seventh.
In the nightcap, Lawrence rallied from a 4-0 deficit for the victory. Crown scored four times in the top of the first, but the Vikings took the lead for good in the third.
Lawrence benefited from nine walks and five hit batsmen by the Crown pitching staff.
The Vikings loaded the bases on two hit batsmen and a walk, and Travis Weber and Lauber both drew bases-loaded walks to cut the lead to 4-2. Duex was hit by a pitch to force in another run, and Dante Reese followed with a two-run single to give Lawrence a 5-4 lead.
Lawrence added five more runs in the fourth to take command. Two hit batsmen and a walk loaded the bases again, and Weber was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Lauber then drilled a two-run double to put the Vikings up 8-4. Duex followed with a run-scoring single, and Reese had an RBI groundout for a 10-4 lead.
Crown added two runs in the seventh to complete the scoring.