Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
VERONA, Wis. - The Edgewood College baseball team held Marian University scoreless for 17 of 18 innings on Monday night and secured their fifth and sixth straight Northern Athletics Conference wins. Starting pitchers Matt Krueger and Blake O'Brien both fired complete game victories as the Eagles swept the Sabres by scores of 6-3 and 4-0.
In game one, Krueger, a senior from Madison, gave seven hits in the first five innings, but settled in to hold Marian University (10-20, 6-10 NAC) to just two hits the rest of the way. The Sabres scored three runs in the third inning, but only one of those was earned. With 11 strikeouts, Krueger topped 10 strikeouts for the third consecutive start and earned his fifth complete game victory, the most in the NAC. He had a streak of 16 innings with at least one strikeout end when he failed to get a punch out in the Sabres' eighth inning.
Despite Krueger's performance Edgewood College (19-11, 10-4 NAC) still trailed 3-1 going into the seventh inning stretch. The Eagles had posted a run in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Andrew King, but had managed just three hits. In the seventh, the Eagles decided to put pressure on the Sabre infield and the strategy paid off.
Steve Binder, who had reached on error and stole second, was still on second with one out. Darren Besch laid down a sacrifice bunt on the right side of the infield, but Sabre pitcher Ty Engler threw the ball past first base allowing Binder to score. Ryan Walker laid down his own bunt and beat it out for a single. Next came Scott Ortega who pushed a bunt toward a vacated second base position, which allowed Walker to advance all the way to third and Ortega to sneak into second on the throw. Besch came home with the tying run. Treye Dennison delivered a big blow with a two-run single to center field, before Seth Astroth laid down another bunt single. Finally, it was Jimy Landwehr who drove in Dennison with a base hit to cap a five-run seventh inning.
Walker was the only Eagle to record multiple hits, going 2-for-4. Dennison led the team with a pair of runs batted in.
In the nightcap, O'Brien was nearly untouchable. The freshman from Glen Ellyn, Ill., gave up just three hits, walked one, hit one batter and struck out four. Two of the three hits O'Brien allowed came in the third inning and neither of those left the infield. No Marian University runner reached third base as O'Brien extended his scoreless streak to 18 consecutive innings.
Edgewood College got all the runs they needed in the first inning. Dennison led off with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Erik Massey. Tim Barry then drove him home with an RBI single to center. The Eagles added two more in the third when Binder and Astroth stroked back-to-back two-out RBI doubles.
The only drama remaining occurred in the seventh inning when Jimy Landwehr stepped up for what ultimately became his final at bat of the game. Landwehr was riding a 19-game hitting streak, but was 0-for-2 in his first three plate appearances. However, Landwehr came through by beating out an infield single hit to the second base hole to extend his streak to 20 games. Landwehr eventually scored the Eagles' final run when Marian misplayed Binder's ground ball with two outs. The 20-game hitting streak is the third longest in school history behind Travis Krahn's 23-game streak in 2004 and Derek Jew's 21-game run in 2005.
With the victories, the Eagles moved into sole possession of third place in the Northern Athletics Conference trailing only Rockford College (11-3 NAC) and Saturday's opponent, Concordia University Wisconsin (9-3 NAC). The Eagles will travel to Milwaukee tomorrow to play Wisconsin Lutheran College at 1:00 p.m. in a doubleheader postponed from Sunday.
