SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Carleton College baseball team was out-slugged by the University of Wisconsin-Superior, as the Knights dropped both ends of their Opening Day doubleheader by scores of 17-4 and 10-7.
Game one recap
A dropped pop-up allowed UW-Superior (2-2) to scratch across two runs in the first inning.
Tyler Vandersall tripled in a run in the second to make it 2-1. Brian O'Dwyer hit a solo shot in the bottom of the frame to return the Yellowjackets' lead to two runs. Carleton (0-2) squared the game in the top of the third with a pair of runs.
Carlo Lissuzo led off with a triple,
Sam Gossard took a hit-by-pitch,
Will Schnepf brought Lissuzo in with a single, and
Ryan Chang lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Gossard.
Superior had a four-run fourth to take a 7-3 lead, with the big blow coming on a three-run homer by Tanner Voight. The Yellowjackets put the game to bed with eight runs in the fifth.
Senior
Jackson Corcoran got the starting nod in the opener and pitched 4.0 innings.
Game two recap
The Knights took advantage of a pair of first-inning errors by UW-Superior to eke out a run.
Jackson Darke led off the second by doubling in his first career at-bat and scored via a
Nathan Barnhart single. Lissuzo executed a squeeze bunt to push Barnhart across a couple batters later for a 3-0 Carleton lead.
The Knights offense continued to tack on, while Schnepf posted zeros on the mound through the first three innings. Schnepf helped his own cause with a triple to start the third, and Vandersall brought him in with an RBI groundout.
Andrew Sellers slugged an RBI double to the gap in the fourth to bring the Carleton edge to 5-0.
The Yellowjackets were aided by a leadoff walk and an error in the bottom of the fourth, using the miscues and a pair of hits to score four runs, cutting the lead to one. The score would remain 5-4 until the bottom of the sixth. Superior's Wylee Lottman took a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch that forced a runner in to tie the game.
O'Dwyer pushed another two-run homer to right-center in the seventh to give the Yellowjackets their first lead. UW-Superior tacked on three more in the eighth to make it 10 unanswered runs since the fourth. Carleton rallied in the ninth, with Chang driving in a pair of one-out walks with a double down the third-base line, but Isaac Johnson made a sliding catch in right to close out the game with the tying run at the plate.
Schnepf had an excellent two-way day. The senior threw 5.0 innings in game two, allowing just two earned runs. He also went 4-for-7 with a pair of triples, a walk, and two runs scored across the twin bill.
Lissuzo picked up three knocks in six at-bats in the leadoff spot over both games, walking twice, stealing two bags, and scoring twice
. Reece Wellsandt posted a 2-for-3 line in game two. Chang had a pair of RBI in each game of the double-dip for four on the day.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton faces another Wisconsin foe, meeting the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire at U.S. Bank Stadium on Tuesday, Mar. 10. The squads will play a pair of seven-inning games, starting at 10:35 a.m.
