The Lawrence University baseball team came up short in a hotly contested non-conference double-header last Wednesday, March 28. Although Lawrence led at some point during both games, they just couldn’t quite put either one away to pick up the win. Despite this, Head Coach Jason Anderson is pleased with how the team has been performing.
“The team is much improved over last year,” said Anderson. “Quite honestly, if we can start making routine plays on ground balls we would have won not only these two games but two or three more over our spring trip.”
In the first game, Lawrence took the initiative early, scoring three runs by the top of the third inning while holding Marian no runs. The Vikings scored three more runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 6-0 lead over the Sabres. However, Marian would capitalize on two Lawrence errors to tie the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the fourth. After scoring two more runs in the bottom of the fifth, the Sabres took the lead and held on to it for the rest of the game, winning it 8-6.
In game two, the Vikings fell behind after the first inning, and the Sabres were in the lead with a score of 4-1. However, Lawrence scored two runs in the third inning to whittle Marian’s lead down to one run.
After scoring another run in the fourth inning, the game was tied at 4-4, and another run in the fifth inning gave the Vikings a 5-4 lead over the Sabres. Unfortunately, Marian rallied in the bottom of the fifth, scoring two runs to once again take the lead, which they held onto to win game to 6-5.
In order to prepare for the games against Ripon, Anderson said he would be having the team work on a couple of things.
“We are adjusting the way we are practicing some of our defensive situations and some of our person-nel groupings to prepare for the next four game set against Ripon,” said Anderson. “Since it’s confer-ence, we need to make sure we are prepared to win that series.”
All in all, Anderson feels that the team is poised to do well this season, saying that they have been in a position to win almost every game this season, and that once the team has figured out how to put away an opponent, they will do very well