The Beloit College baseball team split a pair of games at Lawrence University Saturday afternoon. The Buccaneers took the opener 10-3 before falling in the nightcap 4-3 in 10 innings. The twinbill was originally slated to be played in Beloit but was moved to Appleton due to snow. The home portion of the series is slated for Sunday in Beloit. Any changes to the schedule will be posted to the website and the Beloit College Athletics Facebook and Twitter accounts as soon as they are made official.
Beloit scored in five innings including posting back-to-back three spots in the third and fourth innings en route to the win in game one. The Bucs struck first with James Wicker tallying an RBI single to right field to plate Garrison Ferone.
Lawrence countered in their half of the frame and the 1-1 tie held through the second. Ferone got the Bucs going again in the top of the third drawing a one-out walk. Jalen Davis followed with another base on balls and Ethan Conley loaded the bases with a single to left field. Wicker came up big again with a single through the right side that brought in one and a Viking miscue in the next at bat had two more Bucs touching the plate for a 4-1 advantage.
Lawrence capitalized on a Buccaneer error in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to two, 4-2 but Beloit answered in the fourth. Brice Call led off the inning with a single through the left side and swiped second to move into scoring position. Nick Schmidt drew a walk to put two runners on. Call booked it home on Davis' single up the middle and a fielder's choice on Conley's at bat had everyone safe and the bases loaded. Wicker hit into a fielder's choice and two runner's came around to score with a throwing error on the double play attempt to give Beloit a 7-2 lead.
The Vikings plated a single run in the bottom of the fifth and once again the Bucs responded. Conley singled with one out through the left side and another Viking miscue had two runners on. Mitch Campbell doubled to center field to bring in both runners and extend the gap to 9-3.
Davis doubled in the top of the eighth, advanced to third on a balk and scored on a groundout for the Bucs' final run of the game and the final 10-3.
Davis, Conley and Wicker, the 3-4-5 hitters for Beloit, each posted two hits in the game and combined for six runs scored and five RBI.
Danny Belling improved to 4-1 on the season with a complete game victory on the mound. Belling scattered six hits allowing two earned runs while striking out five and walked two in nine innings of work.
Beloit struck first again in the second game plating a single run in the top of the third. Lawrence responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of two homeruns and the Bucs cut the deficit to one with another run in the top of the fifth on Jake Baltierrez's long ball to left field. The 3-2 score held until the ninth.
A Viking error had Conley reaching to lead off the ninth. He was replaced on the basepaths by Matt Crandall who swiped second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Another wild pitch had Crandall racing home and reaching safely for the game-tying run.
Beloit sat the Vikings down in order in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extras. Schmidt singled with two outs in the top of the tenth but was unable to move into scoring position. The Vikings singled to lead off the bottom of the frame. The runner advanced to second on a balk and an infield single put runners on the corners for Lawrence. A fielder's choice allowed the final run to score for the 4-3, 10-inning final.
Schmidt went 3-for-5 at the plate to lead Beloit offensively adding a run scored. Three Bucs took the mound in the nightcap with Zachary Miller suffering the loss in two innings of work.
