Following a pair of wins at St. Norbert on Saturday, the Beloit College baseball team returned to their home field for a Sunday sweep of the Green Knights. The Buccaneers captured an exciting, 8-7, comeback win to open the day before registering a 9-2 victory in the nightcap.
The Bucs were outhit 15-7 and trailed 7-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth but found a way to win. St. Norbert dominated the first seven innings of the game but Beloit didn't fold and a big eighth inning put them right back into the game.
Bronson Balholm sparked the Bucs with a leadoff double to left center, advancing to third on a passed ball.
James Wicker walked and an error in the next at bat brought in the first run of the frame and put runners on the corners.
Matt O'Leary drove a ball to left field allowing Wicker to score for the sacrifice fly to make it 7-4. In the next at bat,
Brett Kiger took one for the team and
Evan Zenger loaded the bases with a pinch hit walk.
Drew Freitag brought the Bucs closer with a single through the right side that scored one more and chased the SNC pitcher. Following the change on the mound,
Matt Crandall tallied a sac fly that had Kiger crossing the plate to pull Beloit to within one, 6-7.
St. Norbert threatened in the top of the ninth with a pair of singles but the Buc defense held setting up the offense for their last at bats, down a single run.
A leadoff hit batter put the tying run on base.
Garrison Ferone singled through the right side and the Bucs had runners on the corners with no outs. O'Leary's groundball led to an out at second but allowed Wicker to score from third and knot the game 7-7. Kiger followed with a clutch double to left field putting the winning run just 90-feet away.
Ben Jensen strode to the plate for a pinch hit appearance and was intentionally walked to load the bases and set up the potential double play but the Beloit offense was rolling. Freitag came through with a walkoff base knock to center for the 8-7 comeback victory.
Freitag led Beloit at the plate going 3-5 with a run scored and two runs batted in.
Four Bucs saw action on the mound with
Jake Matise picking up his third win on the season with the pivotal ninth inning in relief.
Beloit's offense used the momentum from game one to cruise to a 9-2 second game win. The Bucs blasted 10 hits including four that went for extra bases in the game. Balholm, O'Leary and Kiger all tallied doubles while Ferone registered the lone triple of the contest adding a stolen base along the way.
After St. Norbert took an 1-0 first inning lead, it was Ferone's triple in the bottom half of the frame that brought in a run to tie the game 1-1.
The Bucs second was all they would need the rest of the way.
Nick Schmidt reached on a fielder's choice and a Green Knight error on the play allowed two runs to cross home. Balholm added an RBI double to left center and ended up scoring on a wild pitch later in the inning to give Beloit a 5-1 lead.
Beloit added insurance runs in the fourth, sixth and eighth for the 9-2 final.
Ferone was perfect at the plate going 3-3 with two walks, two runs scored and a RBI to lead the offense.
Matthew Starr recorded his first win on the mound this season. In 6.2 innings of work, Starr tallied three strikeouts.
