VERONA, Wis. – Wednesday night at Stampfl Field was not for the faint of heart. Edgewood College and Wisconsin Lutheran split a pair of one-run games, and in each game the losing team had the tying run on third base when the game ended. The Eagles scored a 7-6 victory in the completion of the first game from April 15, and then the Warriors survived an eight-run Eagle rally in the last two innings for a 12-11 win in the nightcap.
Edgewood College (11-19, 9-7 NAC) trailed 3-1 in the first game, before putting up a four spot in the third inning. Marc Ostrowski drove home Alex Jaskulski to get the scoring started for the Eagles. Jared Raupp's flare down the right field line brought home Ostrowski. Nate Averill scored next after the Warriors misplayed an Otto Muehlenberg ground ball, andAndrew Lauritzen capped the inning with an RBI single.
The Warriors evened the game at 5-5 in the fourth inning, but the Eagles answered with a Brad Clark RBI double in the fourth and again in the fifth when Muehlenberg raced home with a run after the Warriors right fielder misplayed Aaron Schmidt's single. Wisconsin Lutheran (14-11, 8-8 NAC) cut the Eagles' lead to 7-6 on a Sam Matthies fielder's choice ground out in the seventh.
In the ninth inning, the Warriors' Garrick Day singled and advance to third with one out on a stolen base and a sacrifice bunt. However, Eagle pitcher Trevor Koehn slammed the door shut. Koehn induced a comebacker to the mound from Brett Youngbeck and then a game-ending ground ball for Tyler Schoen to secure the win. Koehn took over from Ryan Busse who had started the game and pitched one inning nine days ago, and earned the victory. He allowed three earned runs on seven hits and struck out three Warrior batters.
Lauritzen and Brad Clark both went 4-for-5 in the game, with Laurtizen coming up a home run short of the cycle. Lauritzen tripled in the first, doubled in the second and had singles in the third and fifth innings. Clark had a double and three singles.
If game one was exciting, game two was somewhere approaching insanity, especially in the final two innings. Wisconsin Lutheran College tallied five unearned runs in the fourth inning to break open an 8-1 lead. The Eagles chipped away with two runs in the fifth on a Jake Zadra sacrifice fly and a Ryan O'Dell RBI single, but still trailed 12-3 going to the bottom of the eighth, and looked assured of a loss.
And then things got weird.
Clark started the madness when his one-out single hopped through the legs of the Warriors center fielder and rolled all the way to the warning track. Clark circled the bases for a run on the rare three-base error. Edgewood College then loaded the bases when Sean Thompson was hit by a pitch and Zack Creekmore and Lauritzen followed with singles. At that point, the Warriors' gloves and arms began to fail them. Two wild pitches, three more WLC errors in the field, a passed ball and an O'Dell RBI single later, Edgewood College had racked up seven runs on five hits and four errors to get themselves within striking distance at 12-10.
Relief pitcher Tony Ales who had come on to start the fifth inning retired the Warriors in the top of the ninth, to set the stage for an amazing Eagles comeback. Thompson opened the inning with a bad hop ground ball to left field for a base hit, and was lifted for pinch runner Pat Manning. Creekmore walked on four straight pitches, but was cut down at second base on Lauritzen's sacrifice bunt attempt to leave runners at the corners with one out. Zadra hit a ground ball through the box that resulted in a force at second, but Zadra beat the relay to first to score Manning and extend the game. However, O'Dell's hard ground ball with two outs was directly at Warrior second baseman Garrick Day to end the rally.
Seventeen of the 18 starters in the batting order had at least one hit in the game, and 16 of the 18 starters scored at least one run. O'Dell went 3-for-6 with three runs batted in to lead the Eagles' attack. Creekmore went 3-for-4 and Jasklulski went 3-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 11 consecutive games. Thompson and Lauritzen each had two hits apiece.
Nate Averill suffered the loss after allowing three earned runs in 3.2 innings pitched. After Brock McGinn closed out the fourth inning, Ales went the rest of the way, allowing three earned runs and striking out five batters.
Edgewood College has a tenuous hold on the sixth final NAC Tournament position heading into a big weekend of games. The Eagles will face NAC co-leader and 19th ranked Concordia University Chicago in a doubleheader at home on Saturday and then travel to Rockford College, who currently sits in fourth place, on Sunday.