WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — The Lawrence University baseball team exploded for six runs in the final two innings Friday en route to a 7-4 nonconference victory over Loras College.
The Vikings scored three runs in the eighth to tie it and added three more in the ninth to win the first game of their spring break trip.
Matt Holliday went 3-for-5 with two doubles and drove in three runs for the Vikings (1-4), and Brandon Klar drove in two runs. Mike Brady worked two scoreless innings to get his first collegiate victory, and Zach Rabideau pitched the ninth for the save.
Lawrence trailed 4-1 before scoring three times in the eighth. Nolan Spencer started the inning with a walk, and Klar followed with a run-scoring double. Travis Weber then smacked a run-scoring triple, and Holliday plated Weber with a single to tie it at 4-4.
Reno Zemrak led off the ninth with a single for the Vikings, and Cole Erickson came in to run. After Spencer’s single put runners at the corners, Klar followed with a sacrifice fly to put Lawrence up 5-4.
Weber walked to put runners at the corners again, and Holliday belted a two-run double to give the Vikings a three-run cushion.
Rabideau gave up a two-out double in the ninth but avoided any further damage to record the save.