Knights split with Viterbo

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The Martin Luther College baseball team managed to work for a split in their Upper Midwest Athletic Conference games with Virtebo Tuesday afternoon at Mueller Park.

In the opener, the Knights fell 13-4 with a six-run second inning doing most of the damage for the Hawks.

In the nightcap, Jon Bauer's single with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Dan Frey from third with the game-winning run in a 5-4 win.

"I thought that for the most part, we played well," Knight coach Drew Buck said. "We had one bad inning (in the first game) that really did us in and we never got back on track in that game. Other than that, we played pretty solid. We started hitting the ball in game two (seven hits in the first game, 12 in game two). We were putting the ball in play in the first game but we just didn't get the ball to go through. So overall, I thought that we played well."

But playing well was something that the Knights' normally reliable defense did not do in that first game and mainly in that second inning.

Three MLC errors -- two coming on back-to-back groundballs -- were sandwiched in between hits by the Hawks.

Jason Grimm led off the inning with an opposite field triple to left field off Knight starting and losing pitcher Chris Rathje. Errors by third baseman Mike Kuschel and shortstop Bauer plated one run.

But more important, they kept the inning alive for Virtebo. Brett Magritz' single following the errors made it 2-0 before the error by Bauer allowed two more runs to score for a 4-0 lead.

Travis Brown's two-run single upped the lead to 6-0 with all of the runs unearned.

The Hawks scored a run in the third on Josh Markinson's double and a groundout.

The Knights sliced the lead to 8-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning on singles by Shane Krause and Kuschel a double by Frey and a Bauer bloop single. A wild pitch permitted the third run to score.

MLC added another run in the fifth on a Shane Krause double and a triple by Kuschel.

But the Hawks would put a nail in the Knights' hopes in the top of the seventh inning, scoring five runs.

The big blow was a two-run double by Magritz who drove in four runs for the Hawks. Brown's triple added two more runs.

In game two, the Knights had to fight through some adversity.

They took a 4-0 lead on the strength of two runs in both the first and third innings.

In the first, Aaron Dolan singled and was sacrificed to second by Noah Bater. Brett Krause's single saw Dolan score the first run. Kuschel followed with a ground single before Frey's sacrifice fly scored Krause for a 2-0 lead.

That lead doubled in the third inning. Krause led off with a double to left and a Kuschel groundout advanced him to third. Brett Krause, Shane's brother, brought him home with a double to right field. Jeff Dolan followed with a base hit to right for that 4-0 lead.

But Virtebo got to starter Phil Hochmuth -- who did not have a decision in the game -- with a run in the top of the fourth.

Down 4-1 going into the seventh, Virtebo knotted the game with three runs after there was one out.

Neither team would mount a threat until the bottom of the 10th inning when the Knights scored the winning run.

Kuschel reached on an error but was forced at second by a Frey groundout. Jon Krause moved Frey to third with a double. Virtebo when intentionally walked Jeff Dolan to load the bases with one out.

Jon Bauer followed with a ground ball to first baseman Matt Sampson who could not make a play at any base as Frey scored with the winning run.

"I thought that Shane Krause had two good games," commented Buck. Krause went 6-for-8 in the doubleheader. "And then we spotted with other players through both games. We got some solid play in the field from Mike Kuschel. Aaron Dolan gave us some nice plays at second base."

MLC hosts St. Scholastica Friday.