AUBURNDALE, Fla. — The Benedictine (Ill.) University baseball team scored a run in the bottom of the ninth Saturday to secure a 9-8 nonconference victory over Lawrence University.
Brandon Klar went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs for the Vikings, and Reno Zemrak was 3-for-5, scored a run and drove in a run.
Lead-off hitter Nolan Spencer was 2-for-3 and scored three runs for Lawrence. Matt Holliday was 2-for-5 with two doubles and drove in a pair, and Travis Weber also was 2-for-5 with two RBI for the Vikings.
Jack Feeley went 3-for-4 with three runs scored to pace Benedictine (7-5).
It was Feeley who got the winning rally started with the game tied at 8-8 in the bottom of the ninth. Feeley singled off reliever Zach Rabideau with one out and Sam Kerr followed with a double to score the walk-off victory.
Lawrence (3-9) rallied twice after the Eagles had seized the lead. Benedictine was up 5-1 when the Vikings scored in three consecutive innings to take the lead.
Lawrence trimmed the lead to 5-2 in the fourth when Rabideau singled and later came home on Zemrak’s infield single.
The Vikings tacked on three more runs in the fifth to tie it. Spencer and Klar opened the inning with singles, and Holliday followed with a double to trim the lead to 5-3. Weber delivered a two-run single to tie the score at 5-5.
Lawrence grabbed the lead in the sixth when Zemrak singled and later came around to score on Klar’s clutch two-out single for a 6-5 edge.
Benedictine struck back with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Lawrence rallied again in the eighth. The two-out rally got started when Anthony Ortiz reached on an error and Spencer was hit by a pitch. Klar followed with a single to score Ortiz, and Holliday doubled to score Spencer and tie the game at 8-8.
Marty Maves pitched the final 1.1 innings to get the win, and Rabideau took the loss after 3.1 innings of relief.