(ST NORBERT COMMUNICATIONS) DE PERE – St. Norbert College won in thrilling fashion in a split with Wisconsin Lutheran College, winning on a two-run walk-off home run to give the Green Knights a 7-5 victory before being trimmed 7-6 in the second game in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader at Van Alstine Field.
The Green Knights (13-7, 3-3 NACC) broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the ninth from pinch hitter Connor LaBar, who with the first swing of his at-bat scored two runs for a dramatic victory.
The Warriors took a 1-0 in the first inning, leading until Ethan Volz scored on an error in the third to make it 1-1. A sacrifice fly from Declan Kane later in the inning scored Matt Schuch to give St. Norbert its first lead of the day. The Green Knights added one more run in the fourth but the Warriors reclaimed in the seventh when two runs scored on a St. Norbert error.
A solo home run from Tyler Dean tied the game 4-4 in the seventh while Will Van Laanen scored on a sacrifice fly in the eight. The Warriors tied the game 5-5 in the ninth, and nearly took a late lead if not for a heroic throw from Carson Krumrei (pictured) to home following an error to force the third out with two runners on base. LaBar’s walk-off home run in the ninth was the junior’s first collegiate home run.
Schuch, Dean and Ethan Volz all had two hits in the win.
Connor Christensen earned his first win of the year, pitching one inning with one strikeout and one walk against one run on one hit.
In the second game, Wisconsin Lutheran took an early 3-0 lead in the second inning. A Van Laanen double in the bottom of the second scored Krumrei while DeBruin made it 3-2 in the third on a Dean sacrifice fly.
The Green Knights chased the lead for most of the game, making it a 5-3 game on a RBI single from Krumrei in the fifth. Two more runs in the sixth made it 7-5 in favor of the Warriors. Jake Lucas’s double scored LaBar in the ninth but it was too little for a late comeback.
Schuch, Dean, Krumrei, Van Laanen, Will DeBruin and Zach Bostrand all finished with two hits. Dean finished the game with two RBIs.
Kane took the loss, pitching three innings with three strikeouts and one walk against seven hits and four earned runs.
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