FOND DU LAC, Wis. (April 29, 2005) – The Edgewood College baseball team squandered a 9-3 lead at Marian College (15-17, 10-2 LMC) on Friday when the Sabres exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Marian went on to defeat the Eagles (22-13, 14-2 LMC) by a final score of 12-9.

Edgewood will now have to sweep a doubleheader against the Sabres this Saturday at Stampfl Field in Verona in order to clinch at least a tie of the Lake Michigan Conference championship. With the first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m. tomorrow, the Eagles will be aiming to capture their first-ever LMC regular season title.

The Eagles could have been one step closer to that goal on Friday, but the Sabres pounded six hits off of three different Edgewood pitchers and took advantage of one error in the bottom half of the eighth. Jason Bunton slammed the door in the top of the ninth to earn his second save of the season.

Edgewood broke a scoreless tie in the top of the third inning on an RBI single by Shawn Burcum (DeForest, Wis.) followed by a run-scoring double by John Fish (Wisconsin Dells, Wis.). Jon Adair (Prairie du Sac, Wis.) singled in another run in the top of the fourth and Burcum added a two-RBI single to give the Eagles a 5-0 cushion.

Marian got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run homerun to left field by Kurt Miller, but Edgewood got the runs back in the top of the eighth thanks to Burcum’s third homer of the season, a solo shot down the left field line, and a single by Joe Feistel (Appleton, Wis.) that scored Andrew Handorf (DeForest, Wis.) from second base. From there, everything went south for the Eagles.

Starting pitcher Dave Scheidell (Milton, Wis.), who allowed only three hits through the first seven innings, gave up a leadoff double to Miller in the bottom of the eighth and walked the next batter forcing Eagle head coach Al Brisack to go to his bullpen. Derek Jew (Homewood, Ill.) relieved Scheidell, but Jew only lasted two outs after allowing three hits and four earned runs. Scott Stievo (Flagstaff, Ariz.) was then brought in to end the long inning, but not before he surrendered two hits and three runs, only one of which was earned.

Offensively, Burcum went 3-for-5 at the plate with four RBI and run scored. Ricky Martinez (Beach Park, Ill.) and Adair also collected three hits each.

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