Box Score (Game 1)
Box Score (Game 2)
VERONA, Wis. - A common baseball axiom says you need great starting pitching to win in the playoffs. On Sunday night the Edgewood College baseball team learned it doesn't hurt to have great starting pitching when you need to get into the playoffs. The Eagles rode three of their usual starting pitchers to a sweep of Lakeland College 3-1 and 7-4 and clinched, not only a spot in the Northern Athletics Conference Baseball Tournament, but a share of their first NAC title.
With Rockford College splitting a doubleheader with Benedictine University on Saturday, Edgewood College needed to win both games to tie the Regents and share the league title. Senior Matt Krueger fired his fifth consecutive and seventh overall complete game victory of the season in the first contest. In the nightcap, freshman Blake O'Brien and senior Scott Winters, making his first career relief appearance, teamed up for a two-hitter. Both Krueger and Winters reached 100 career strikeouts as an Eagle during their appearances.
Game one was a fantastic pitchers' duel between Krueger and Lakeland College (21-19, 12-10 NAC) ace Lee Chepil. Chepil entered the game leading the NAC in earned run average at 1.79, and forced the Eagles to work for every run. Edgewood College (27-13, 17-5 NAC) drew first blood in the third inning. Scott Ortega walked and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Treye Dennison. Then Jimy Landwehr continued his hot hitting with a single through left side of the infield to score Ortega and give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
Edgewood College picked up another run in the fifth when Tim Barry lined a 1-2 pitch into center field, scoring Dennison who had reached on a single of their own. Krueger got in his toughest jam of the night in seventh inning when the Muskies loaded the bases with one out. Lakeland's Jeremy Meier hit a long drive to center field, but Landwehr tracked it down. The sacrifice fly cut the lead to 2-1, but Krueger escaped the jam one batter later on a ground ball.
The Eagles picked up a crucial insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Steve Binder hit a one-out double for his third hit of the game. Binder then scored on Andrew King's RBI single to right center field to make the score 3-1.
In the ninth inning, the Muskies touched Krueger for a leadoff walk but the Eagles turned their school record tying 34th double play of the season to erase that base runner. Stephan Kalina and Meier followed with singles to keep the inning alive, but Krueger induced Cody Reimer into a game-ending ground ball to end the game.
Krueger finished the game allowing one run on eight hits and striking out nine Muskie batters. He improved his career record to 12-1 in 16 games started. In addition to Binder's three hit game, Landwehr and Mike Selvaggi also had multiple hits. Landwehr went 2-for-4 and drove in a run, marking his 24th multi-hit game in 40 starts this season, while Selvaggi picked up a pair of singles.
The nightcap started out bumpy for O'Brien in the second inning. With one out and runners at second and third, Meier hit a cue shot off the end of his bat which bounced sharply past Barry at first base to drive in one run. After Meier stole second, Riemer hit a hard chop the bounced over the 6-foot-4 Barry's head and into right field for a 2-run single, putting the Muskies ahead 3-0. Edgewood College picked up an unearned run in the third inning when Seth Astroth led off with a double and moved to third on a ground out. He was still there with two outs when Lakeland starter Matt Katzman uncorked a wild pitch allowing Astroth to scamper home.
The Eagles gained the lead in a wild four-run fourth inning. Barry singled, followed by Binder who reached on an error. Ryan Walker then laid down a excellent bunt on the third base line, which Muskie third baseman Kalina threw wildly past the first baseman. While the ball rattled around in Stampfl Field's wide foul territory areas, Barry scored from second and Binder came all the way around from first base to tie the game at three. Walker made it all the way to third base and scored on Selvaggi's RBI single. Selvaggi then scored from second base on Dennison's double to right center field and Edgewood College had a 5-4 lead.
The Muskies got one back in the fifth inning, but once Winters entered the game in the top of the sixth, the Muskies offense was held in check. Winters nearly threw four perfect innings, spoiled only by a ninth inning walk, to claim the first save of his career. Winters didn't need them, but the Eagles picked up two more runs in the eighth on an RBI squeeze bunt from Erik Massey and a Muskie wild pitch that scored Dennison.
O'Brien improved to 6-1 on the season, striking out three and allowing just two hits and three earned runs. Barry had three singles in five at-bats. Binder and Dennison both went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Dennison added a double and an RBI, while Binder extended his career-long hitting streak to 13 games. Selvaggi kept pace with Binder stroking a single in the fourth inning for a hit in his 13th straight game.
The conference title was the Eagles' first in the NAC, and the program's first since winning back-to-back Lake Michigan Conference titles in 2005 and 2006. Edgewood College will either be the first or second seed in the four-team Northern Athletics Conference Baseball Tournament. Final seedings and pairings will be confirmed by the NAC Monday morning. The entire NAC Baseball Tournament will be broadcast live from the tournament's home page at EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com/nacbaseball.
