Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther University's Spencer Lilienthal connects with a single in the second game of a UMAC doubleheader against Crown College on Saturday at MLC Baseball Stadium in New Ulm.
NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College Knights were in trouble Saturday against one of the conference's top offensive teams, giving the team an extra base on an error.
Two days after defeating MLC 17-2 at MLC Baseball Stadium, Crown College returned in a doubleheader on Saturday, winning the opening game 3-1 and winning the final game 12-4, ending the UMAC Baseball Series It took the world by storm.
The Polers are currently 15-16 overall, 13-5 in UMAC play, and earned a spot in the UMAC playoffs with the sweep.
The Polers entered the doubleheader against MLC, who lead the conference in batting average (.321) and home runs (43). They improved on that number Saturday at the expense of the Knights.
MLC went into Game 1 relatively clean, committing only one error, but that one error led to two unearned runs by Knights starting pitcher Matt Reagor.
Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Martin Luther University's Aaron Board pitches in the second game of a UMAC doubleheader against Crown College on Saturday at MLC Baseball Stadium in New Ulm.
Other than that, Reagor pitched well and kept the damage to a minimum, pitching a complete game with seven hits, no walks, and three strikeouts.
“Matt Rieger pitched well for us. This is his fifth complete game.” MLC head coach Randy Cox said. “We didn't play well enough to win. It was a great game, 3-1, Crown was a solid hitting team. …But Matt Rieger did a great job. But in the first game, the runners As a senior, I'm very proud of him, even though he didn't have a few clutch hits. He's grown as a pitcher every year. He's had some tough losses this year, but he's pitched a complete game in his career. He pitched in five games, I think three or four this year. But he pitched well for us.”
The Crown took the lead in Game 1 on Brian Garbers' RBI, but the other points for the Pollers came on an error and Howie Hutton's RBI double, and in the third on Ashton Long's sac fly. The Knights entered the game in the 8th inning with Alex Ritter scoring on a sac fly by Parker Winghart, but the game ended in the 9th inning, trailing 1-2-3.
Both teams had 7 hits in this game.
Ryan Vondrasek pitched a complete game, striking out four while allowing one earned run on seven hits and one walk.
For the Knights, Ritter and Spencer Lilienthal each went 2-for-4 with hits, and Winghart went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Hutton led the Polers in at-bats with 2-for-4 hits, a triple, a double, and an RBI.
However, in Game 2, the Polers defeated the Knights 16-8, committing only one error to MLC's five.
Connor Heckendorf pitched six innings, allowing 13 hits, no walks, three earned runs, and one strikeout, taking the loss.
Jacob Van Dam earned the Crown victory in Game 2 by allowing seven hits, four walks and three earned runs in seven innings pitched. He had seven strikeouts.
In the second game, the Polers scored two points in the first game, and it was a back-and-forth battle in the beginning. The Knights got one run back in the bottom of the inning with Winghart's timely double over the right field, and in the third inning, a sac fly off the bat of Carter Seltz scored Lilienthal to tie the game.
However, Crown scored four runs on five hits in the fourth inning to take a 6-2 lead, and in the sixth inning, Hutton hit a two-run homer to left for an 8-2 lead.
Knights left fielder Seltz tracked Hutton's home run ball well and tried to jump to the fence, but the ball continued to go left and just missed it.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Mark Vogel grounded out to first base to bring home Jackson Lindemann, making the score 8-3.
MLC's Aaron Board took the mound in the seventh inning and allowed a leadoff double to Long and a single to Ethan Habetler. An error then moved Habetler to second and Board scored before Habetler could reach third on a passed ball.
Matthew Shaugabay was hit by a pitch, but Board caught a line drive off Charlie Joyce's bat and threw to first base for a successful double play, catching Shaugabay.
After Bode issued back-to-back walks, two errors allowed three more points, giving the Polers a 12-3 lead.
Joseph Olson pitched the final two innings for the Knights, allowing one hit and one walk with no runs and one strikeout. In the 8th inning, the Knights scored another run on a right field error by Lilienthal from second base.
Lilienthal led MLC in Game 2 with 2-for-3 hits, two walks, and three runs scored, Winghart was 2-for-5 with 2 hits and 1 RBI, and Vogel was 1-for-2 with 1 hit and 1 RBI.
Habetler led the Polers in Game 2 with a 3-for-4 hit, one RBI, and two RBIs, while Hutton went 3-for-5 with a home run, five RBIs, and three RBIs.
“We have some players with hamstring problems right now.” [injuries],Alex [Ritter]mason [Cox] And now we have a starting third baseman with a hip flexor.” Coach Cox said so. “The end of the year is a little tough with the injuries, but we've got to fight through. Some of our freshmen are really picking it up, but we weren't happy with the consistency and the play and the mistakes we made in Game 2. We played well in Game 1. In the series, we usually played one or two games well, but the other games were the ones that bothered me the most. It's about consistency.”
The Knights, who are 5-26 overall and 2-16 in the UMAC, end the season with a three-game series at Northland University in Ashland, Wisconsin. The first game is scheduled for first pitch on Friday at 3 p.m., and the doubleheader will begin Saturday at 2 p.m.
“We will continue to compete.” Coach Cox said so. “Next up is Northland, we've got to go there. We're still hitting, we're still hitting as a team, we're hitting around .300. But again, certain We need to reduce errors in the situation.”
