Lawrence Vikings baseball brought home a double header split with Beloit this past Saturday, Apr. 27. This double header was the baseball team’s ninth and tenth Midwest conference game. Up to that point, the team had yet to get a win on the conference season. A big second game changed that pattern.
This weekend was supposed to be an away double header at Beloit on Saturday and a home double header against Beloit on Sunday, but due to inconvenient weather, Saturday was played at home with the second half of their series to be scheduled for a future date. Beloit College took the first game with a 10-3 win over Lawrence. Beloit sits only one spot above the Vikings in the Conference rankings, so they were expecting it to be a good game. Beloit’s junior pitcher Danny Belling pitched a gem against the Vikings, leading his team to victory. He has a 3.67 ERA on the season, and he showed it on the mound this past Sunday. Belling went the distance, allowing three runs on only six hits, with five strike-outs and two walks. Junior Patrick McDonnell and freshman Spenser Ross went 2-for-4 with McDonnell scoring two of the three runs for the Vikings. Despite these great performances, Lawrence was unable to close the gap once the Beloit Bucs got up 7-2 in the fourth inning. The Vikings dropped the first game 10-3.
The second game was a lot more exciting for the Lawrence side. The Vikings won 4-3 in extra innings. McDonnell went 2-for-4, yet again, with a home run. Fellow junior Ethan Jones joined him with a two-run homer. Ross also went 2-for-4 for the Vikings. Freshman pitcher Clayton Agler came in to finish on the mound for the final three innings. He allowed no earned runs, struck out three and didn’t walk a batter, and this helped to seal his first ever collegiate victory.
Going into the bottom of the tenth inning, the Vikings were tied 3-3 with the Bucs. Junior Reno Zemrak started the inning with a single and got to second with a balk from Beloit’s pitcher. Ross then hit an infield single, moving Zemrak to third. The Vikings had runners on the corners with only one out on the inning. Junior Rudy Mueller-Schrader came up to bat and perfectly executed a squeeze bunt, sending Zemrak home, scoring the game-winning run.
The split with Beloit at home on Saturday puts the Vikings at a 1-9 record in conference. The baseball team has six games left in the 2019 season. Their final home games will be Sunday, May 5, versus Ripon College at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Come out and support your Lawrence Vikings as they close out their season.