Green Knights Swept by No. 4 UW-Whitewater

From Asst. AD/Athletics Communications, May 7, 2017 | Baseball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

DE PERE - St. Norbert College couldn't hold down a powerful UW-Whitewater offense as the Green Knights were swept 14-9 and 13-1 in a non-conference doubleheader at Van Alstine Field at Mel Nicks Sports Complex.

The Green Knights (26-10) will face Cornell College Friday morning in a first-round Midwest Conference Tournament game in Grinnell, Iowa.

St. Norbert scored first in the opener, with a Tyler Banovich groundout plating Derek Klegin. Whitewater answered with a two-run home run by Jordan Kuczynski in the second inning, but St. Norbert would score six runs on one hit in the bottom of the frame. The Green Knights were aided by three hit batsmen, a walk and three Whitewater errors to take a 7-2 lead.

Whitewater scored once in the third to trail 7-3, and the score would stay that way until Dylan Bersch's grand slam in the top of the sixth inning. St. Norbert would take a 9-7 lead in the bottom of the inning on a two-run home run by Jason Malkowski, but Whitewater would score three times in the seventh and eighth innings and one run in the ninth inning to pull away.

Malkowski was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBIs for the Green Knights, who had 12 hits. Derek Klegin, Griffin Jack and Jacob Raeder were all 2-for-5.

Tyler Rouze took the loss, allowing 11 hits in 6 2/3 innings.

In the nightcap, St. Norbert was held to three hits by a trio of Whitewater (32-6) pitchers. Sean Grant was 2-for-2 with a triple.