Lawrence Baseball Wins Three of Four Against Beloit -cd

Joy Manweiler

Excellent pitching helped the Lawrence University baseball team to a Midwest Conference sweep of Beloit on Monday, following their split with the Bucs on Sunday.
Freshman pitcher Ben Konetzke pitched a three hit shutout in the 5-0 nightcap while junior Frank Forseth pitched a complete game and picked up his second win of the season in game one, a 13-4 victory for the Vikings (7-12, 3-5 MWC).
Lawrence led Beloit (15-12, 4-8 MWC) 5-3 going into the seventh inning, when hits from seniors Tommy Schmidt and Doug McEneaney and a three run homer by senior Adam Fritsch gave the Vikes four more runs, putting them up 9-3.
After a scoreless eighth inning, junior Ray Tucker hit a bases-loaded single, allowing junior Hawk Haiduke and senior Tim Salm to score. Adam Fritsch scored on an error by the pitcher and freshman Robert Rashid singled, giving Tucker the opportunity to bring one home. Beloit scored one run in the ninth, bringing the game to the final score of 13-4.
Schmidt hit a two-run double in the first inning of game two for the Vikings, bringing seniors Ben Webster and Salm across home plate for a 2-0 lead. A triple by Webster and a homerun by Schmidt in the sixth put the Vikes up 4-0. Sophomore Andy Bremberger scored on a wild pitch in the seventh inning, closing out the scoring for LU and giving him his second run of the season.
The home team Lawrence split with Beloit on Sunday, losing the first 6-0 and winning the second 8-7 in ten innings.
The Vikings had only four hits in the first game, including two from Haiduke. Sophomore pitcher Andy Frelich took the loss.
Game two went into extra innings, as the Bucs got single runs in the eighth and the ninth to tie the score 7-7, but an inning and a half of relief pitching from sophomore Luke Kostreva and a double by Webster in the tenth gave the Vikes the victory.
Lawrence trailed 5-3 going into the sixth inning, when they picked up four runs to take the lead. With Forseth, Haiduke and Otte on base, Beloit pitcher Gackstatter walked McEneaney, advancing Forseth home. A balk in the inning allowed Haiduke to score and a single by Salm sent Otte home. McEneaney scored on a single by Schmidt to put the Vikings up 7-5.
Otte singled and stole second to put him in position to score on Webster’s double to center field in the tenth inning, ending the game 8-7.
Kostreva replaced junior Alex Fritsch at the mound after eight and a half innings of excellent pitching, and picked up his first win for Lawrence.
The team returns to action this weekend when they play St. Norbert College (15-6, 7-1 MWC) away on Saturday and home on Sunday (noon start time both days), and Wisconsin Lutheran (5-21, 4-12 NAC) the following Wednesday at home at 1:00 p.m.