Box Score
WATERTOWN, Wis. - Step one of three is complete. The Edgewood College baseball team inched closer to a Northern Athletics Conference Tournament bid with a 21-7 victory over Maranatha Baptist on Thursday at Washington Park. During the game, senior centerfielder Jimy Landwehr established a new school record for hits in a single season.
Landwehr entered the game with 68 hits on the season, trailing Travis Krahn (2001-04) by just one on the all-time list. It only took one at-bat for Landwehr to equal the record with a first inning single. Landwehr had an RBI groundout in the third inning and reached on an error in the fourth inning before becoming the first Eagle to get his 70th hit of the season with a leadoff triple in the sixth inning. He would add a bases-loaded, three-run double later in the same inning, and an RBI single in the seventh to finish the game 4-for-6 with five runs batted in and improve his season batting average to a staggering .477.
Senior Steve Binder and sophomore Mike Selvaggi continued their own personal hitting streak race, as the each extended their own to 11 games. Binder doubled to lead off the fourth inning, and Selvaggi kept pace with a two-run single later that same inning. Darren Besch and Andrew King each went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Besch chipped in three RBIs. Ryan Walker matched Besch's RBI total with three, despite not getting a base hit. Seth Astroth and Brandon Bartels each recorded two-run singles in the game.
Freshman pitcher Jason Towns received the first start of his career and stuck around for six innings to earn his first career win. Towns only found serious trouble in the fourth inning, when a two-out error opened the door to a five unearned runs capped off by Timothy Solarek's grand slam home run which cut the Eagles' lead to 7-6 at the time. Towns allowed two earned runs on 10 hits, while striking out four. Fellow freshman Billy DeVault pitched a perfect seventh inning in his collegiate debut.
Edgewood College (25-13, 15-5 NAC), which remained ranked sixth in the Midwest Region in this week's NCAA Regional Rankings, enters the last day of the regular season tied for second place in the NAC. The Eagles can clinch a Northern Athletics Conference Tournament berth on Saturday against Lakeland College. With a sweep over the Muskies, Edgewood College would guarantee a spot in next weekend's four-team NAC Baseball Tournament. Anything less and the Eagles will be subject to a possible tiebreaking scenario to decide the final tournament qualifiers.
Saturday is also “Strike Out Cancer” Awareness Day at Stampfl Field. The event begins with a doubleheader between Verona High School and Madison East High School at 10:30 a.m., followed by the 4:00 doubleheader between the Eagles and Muskies. Donations, T-shirt sales and a special pink baseball bat raffle/auction will all raise money for the Breast Cancer Recovery Foundation.
