Danny Rose and Zach Nagle helped the Knights finish 2-1 over the weekend. The Knights will host Loras Saturday. File Photo
MAC SLAVIN SPORTS EDITOR
The Knights baseball team finished a weekend road trip to St. Louis 2-1 with wins over Webster College and Concordia College (Ill.) and a loss to Illinois Wesleyan.
“It was a pretty good weekend, we got some things accomplished,” head coach Joel Holst said. “Winning the last two games were really important after jumping off the bust and not playing that well against Illinois Wesleyan.”
Holst’s squad finished the weekend with a 3-2 win over Concordia College (Ill.) Sunday.
Wartburg was first on the board in the second inning when Pat Grau crossed home plate with an unearned run. In the sixth inning Danny Rose also crossed the plate putting the Knights up 2-0, but in the bottom half of the inning Concordia began to battle back.
The Cougars tied the game at two, but a Jerrold Martijn single drove home Ben Roemmich to put the Knights up 3-2 in the top of the eighth inning.
Mike Johnson led the Knights with three hits and an RBI, while Martijn finished the game with one RBI.
“The pitching was solid and the offense really came to life and we got some things accomplished,” Holst said.
The Knights topped Webster University Saturday 11-6.
Wartburg was first on the board in the second inning after Grau doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch. In the next at bat, Kyle Jones was thrown out at first, but the sacrifice scored Grau to put the Knights up 1-0.
The Gorlocks answered with a one-run second inning too. Wartburg found a one run third inning and a pair of four run innings to put them ahead for good.
The fourth inning started with an A.J. Lewis single. Lewis scored after a Jones double. Steve Chamberin doubled to left scoring Jones and Zach Nagle, who reached earlier on an error.
Chamberlin moved over to third on a wild pitch and scored after a Roemmich single to round out a four-run fourth inning.
Martijn homered in the first at bat of the fifth inning, putting the Knights up 7-2. Lewis singled bringing home Grau for another Wartburg run. Two more Wartburg runs came in to put the Knights up 9-2.
The Gorlocks started a comeback late in the game as they managed to pull out a one-run seventh inning and a three-run eighth.
Jones finished the game with three RBIs, while Chamberlin finished with two in the win. Grau finished with three runs and Lewis finished with two. Bill Schmitt got the win for the Knights with 7.1 innings pitched allowing only seven hits.
“We’ve played 15 games now, and [we] know that there’s not one team, at least talent-wise, that is better than us,” Holst said.
The Knights ran into a tough Illinois Wesleyan opponent, falling 8-0 Friday night.
“We’re just inconsistent really in all the phases of the game, and once we start getting outside and practicing, we’ll get some of that consistency back,” Holst said.
The Titans took advantage of a six-run second inning, holding the Knights scoreless.
“We really gave up too many things to [the Titans], I mean they had a six running inning. They were pretty even teams, it was just one of those deals where we have been giving up a lot to our opponents this year in the season; it wasn’t the most positive game we’ve had,” Holst said.
The 8-7 Knights will open conference play Friday night as they travel to Dubuque to take on the Loras.