VERONA, Wis. – There's no mistake about it, the road to the NACC Tournament just got more difficult for the Edgewood College baseball team. The Eagles were swept in a home doubleheader for the first time this season, falling to Wisconsin Lutheran College 12-10 and 8-4. Despite the losses, Jonathan Roehler and Jeff Tucker posted great games, combining for 15 hits, including three home runs on the night.
Edgewood College (13-20, 9-9 NACC) seemed to get out to a great start, scoring four runs in the first three innings for starting pitcher Nate Averill. Jacob Yellovich, Andrew Lauritzen and Tucker all drove in runs to put the Eagles out front. Even after Wisconsin Lutheran (16-20, 8-10 NACC) posted the three unearned runs in the fourth, Roehler answered with a solo home run and Yellovich drove in another for a 6-3 lead.
The Eagles still led 7-5 when it fell apart in the seventh inning. The Warriors sent 12 batters to plate and scored seven runs, three of which were unearned to take a 12-7 lead. Brodie Engel scored on an error in the bottom of the seventh to cut the lead to 12-8. In the ninth, Lauritzen scored on a balk and Yellovich drove in Roehler with an RBI single, but the game ended with the tying run at second base.
For the first time in school history two Edgewood College players, Roehler and Tucker, had five hits in the same game. Both players went 5-for-6, as Roehler had a double and a home run, while Tucker had two doubles and two stolen bases. Yellovich had three hits, including a double and drove in a team-high three runs. Lauritzen and Tim Nunn had two hits apiece. Edgewood College totalled a season-high 20 hits, the most hits by an Eagle team since they had 21 against Wisconsin Lutheran on April 23, 2014. Averill pitched 6.1 innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters without a walk. Bryce Lashley was strong in relief pitching a scoreless eighth and ninth innings.
The Eagles got off to another flying start in game two, but couldn't maintain the lead. Roehler followed Lauritzen's first inning, leadoff single with a two-run blast to center field to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead. In the second inning, Tucker smashed his third home run of the season over the left-center field wall to put the Eagles ahead 3-1. However, the Warriors scored two runs on five hits in the third to tie the game at 3-3.
That was still the score until the sixth inning, when Wisconsin Lutheran scored four runs for a 7-3 lead. The Eagles scored a run in the seventh on an RBI single by Casey Seelow, but they wouldn't score again.
Starting pitcher Andy Swanson pitched 5.2 innings and allowed six earned runs while striking out two batters. At the plate, Roehler went 3-for-5 with two runs batted in. Tucker was 2-for-4 and Seelow went 2-for-3. Nunn didn't have a hit which snapped his 12-game hitting streak, but with a walk in the fifth inning, he extended his streak of reaching base safely to 26 consecutive games. The school record of 31 is held jointly by Pat Manning and Zack Creekmore, both set in 2015.
With the two losses, Edgewood College slips into a sixth place tie (9-9) with Dominican University in the NACC standings, but do hold the tiebreaker over the Stars. Two wins on Saturday at Concordia University Wisconsin, would secure one of the six bids to the NACC Tournament. A split with the Falcons would leave the door open for Dominican or Wisconsin Lutheran (8-10) to slide into the postseason.
Tomorrow night Edgewood College hosts UW-Platteville in a non-conference single game at Stampfl Field in Verona. Wednesday's 7:00 p.m. game will be Veterans Appreciation Night. All veterans will be admitted free of charge and will be honored during a special seventh inning stretch ceremony.
