St. Norbert Moves to 4-2 with Win Over CCIW Foe Millikin

From Sports Information Director, March 18, 2009 | Baseball
by Dan Lukes, dan.lukes@snc.edu, (920) 403-4077

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - St. Norbert College extended its baseball winning streak to three with a 10-8 win over College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin opponent Millikin University at Chain of Lakes Park.

The Green Knights pounded out 17 hits to improve to 4-2. The Big Blue fell to 2-4.

St. Norbert and Millikin each scored in the each of the first three innings, but the Green Knights were able to post a pair of crooked numbers to take a 6-3 lead after three innings. Cory Fuller had an RBI single in the first before St. Norbert scored three times in the second. Jordan Powers drove in Ryan Kehl with a base hit. After a run scored on a double-play ball, Fuller posted his second RBI of the day with a run-scoring single.

Millikin cut its deficit to 6-5 with two runs in the fifth, but St. Norbert responded with two runs in the sixth. Tony Jandron singled and Brett Birkholz came around to score on an infield error. Jandron and Jared Yost then executed a double steal, and Fuller had an RBI groundout for the second run.

The Big Blue scored twice in the top of the seventh but left the bases loaded to remain behind 8-7. Birkholz drove in Kehl with a sacrifice fly, and Yost tripled in Bryan Stoppenbach for a 10-7 advantage. Millikin would score one run in the top of the ninth but couldn't muster enough of a rally to tie the score.

Justin Novitski worked the first 6.2 innings, walking two and striking out eight while scattering 12 hits to improve to 2-0. Jordan Vater worked the last 2.1 innings to get his first save of the year.

Matt Hannon was 3-for-3 with two runs scored for St. Norbert. Powers, Yost, Fuller, Vater and Kehl all head two hits apiece. Fuller finished with three RBIs, while Kehl added a double.