APPLETON, Wis. — The Lawrence University baseball team got a run in the bottom of the sixth to break a tie, and Gene Shipanik tossed five innings of scoreless relief as the Vikings beat Marian University 2-1 on Thursday in a nonconference game at Whiting Field.
Game two of the scheduled doubleheader was rained out.
It was the first collegiate victory for Shipanik, who took over for starter Drew Doares in the top of the third. Shipanik went five innings, allowed five hits, struck out one and walked two.
Davide Harris and Gabe Henriques paced the Lawrence offense with two hits apiece, and Aaron Benz drove in both runs for the Vikings (10-21).
Marian (18-14) scored its lone run of the contest in the top of the first, but Lawrence answered in the bottom half of the inning. Harris started the inning with an infield single, and Henriques followed with another single. After both runners stole a base, Benz’s groundout scored Harris to tie the game at 1-1.
The score stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth when Gabe Warshaw led off the inning with a single. He moved to second on Harris’ sacrifice bunt, and Henriques followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Benz then perfectly executed the suicide squeeze to score Warshaw and put Lawrence up 2-1.
Shipanik then worked a perfect seventh to complete the win.
Rain then moved in quickly and the second game was called after the field became saturated.
Lawrence wraps up its home schedule on Saturday when the Vikings host Carroll University.