Baseball Absorbs Two Losses to Wisconsin Lutheran in Florida Finale

FORT MYERS, Fla.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team dropped a doubleheader to Wisconsin Lutheran Friday to close out play at the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Florida.

The Lions suffered a 4-2 setback to the Warriors in game one before falling 11-3 in the second tilt.

The Lions move to 4-6 on the spring with the decisions while the Warriors improve to 5-2 overall.

Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) paced Eastern Nazarene with three hits, two runs and two stolen bases. Jose Arebalo (Brentwood, Calif.) notched two base knocks, one RBI and one run. Riley Sullivan (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Justin Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) each drove in one RBI on one base hit.

Eastern Nazarene opened the scoring in the top of the second, plating one run to take a 1-0 lead. Justin Wagner drove in his team-leading eighth RBI as he bounced a chopper up the middle to score Arebalo from second base.

Wisconsin Lutheran responded with a run in the home half of the second to level the score at 1-1. Brandon Mantz crossed the dish on a groundout by Matt Wick.

The Lions reclaimed a one-run edge in the third, 2-1, as Jeremy Wagner tagged up and motored home on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Wynne (New Haven, Conn.).

The Warriors evened the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third inning as Connor Vredeveld scored all the way from first base on a triple off the bat of Aaron Roeseler.

Wisconsin Lutheran captured a 4-2 advantage with a pair of scores in the fourth. Josiah Boucher doubled to left-centerfield to plate Zack Skog and Wick.

Doug English (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) pitched five innings and fanned one batter in his second start of the spring. Antonio Ortegon (Haltom City, Texas) tossed one shutout inning of relief action.

In the second contest of the day, the Warriors produced five runs in the top of the second to take a 5-0 lead. Connor Vredeveld drove in three RBIs with a bases-clearing double and Roeseler and Sam Mattheis followed with RBI singles.

Eastern Nazarene cut the deficit to 5-2 in the bottom of the inning. Jesus Rivera (Homestead, Fla.) scampered home on a wild pitch before Arebalo drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Sullivan.

Wisconsin Lutheran tacked on a pair of scores in the fourth to widen the gap to 7-2 as Skog singled up the middle to score Roeseler and Boucher.

The Warriors added three runs in the sixth to extend their lead to 10-2. Brett Youngbeck singled to right field to plate a run and Jake Grollo doubled to score two.

The Lions pushed across a run in the home half of the sixth as Jeremy Wagner scooted home on a groundout by Sullivan.

Wisconsin Lutheran capped off the scoring with a run in the seventh.

Cameron Fiorentino (Uxbridge, Mass.) tossed four innings in his second start of the year and recorded two strikeouts. Bobby Barber (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.), Rob Dukes (Spencer, Mass.) and Will Medina (Milton, Mass.) all hurled one inning of relief for Eastern Nazarene.

Looking ahead, the Lions are scheduled to visit Clark (Mass.) March 17 for a non-league nine-inning battle.