St. Norbert Splits With No. 9 St. Thomas

From Sports Information Director, March 22, 2014 | Baseball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

AUBURNDALE, Fla. - St. Norbert College split a pair of one-run games with perennial national power University of St. Thomas, losing the opener 4-3 before claiming the nightcap 3-2 on get-away day on the Green Knights' Florida trip.

St. Norbert (5-4) took an early lead in the second game against the Tommies (7-2), ranked No. 9 in the D3baseball.com Top 25, and held on from there.

With one out in the first inning, Chad Ljunggren and Travis Mason singled. Jose Godinez drove in Ljunggren with an RBI single, while Troy Rottier's double drove in Mason for a 2-0 lead.

The Tommies answered with one run in the second, and neither team would score again until the Green Knights added an unearned run in the sixth inning for a 3-1 lead. St. Thomas answered with one run in the top of the seventh, and had runners on second and third with two outs, but Kevin Nutley ended the game with a strikeout to finish the win.

Nutley allowed six hits with one walk and five strikeouts to get the win. Mason was 2-for-2 for the Green Knights, who had eight hits.

In the opener, St. Thomas scored once in the first inning and twice in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead. Ljunggren's RBI double scored Derek Klegin in the top of the fourth to make it 3-1. The Tommies added a run in the fifth to go ahead 4-1. Rottier had an RBI single in the sixth inning, and St. Norbert scored a run on a double play in the seventh but couldn't get the equalizer.

Mason was 2-for-3 for St. Norbert, which had six hits. Matt Freeman took the complete-game loss, allowing six hits with two walks and four strikeouts.