DAVENPORT, Fla. (blugolds.com) — The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire baseball team saw its rally fall just short in a 5-4 defeat to Knox College on Wednesday at the RussMatt Invitational. After trailing 5-0, the Blugolds got the tying run 90 feet away from home in the bottom of the ninth before being denied by the Prairie Fire.
Knox did all of its scoring in the first three innings. The Prairie Fire pushed across two runs each in the first and second innings, scoring on an error and a sacrifice fly in the first and a two-RBI single in the second. They added an RBI triple in the third to go ahead 5-0.
The Blugolds (1-7) slowly chipped away at the lead over the next six frames.
Ethan Plantz (Sr. - South Elgin, Ill./Elgin Academy) drew a bases-loaded walk to get UW-Eau Claire on the board in the bottom of the fourth.
Jason Lehman (Fr. - Green Bay, Wis./West De Pere) made it a two-run game by knocking a two-RBI single in the sixth, and
Walter Johnson (Jr. - Minnetonka, Minn.) slashed the deficit to one with a solo home run in the eighth.
Down 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth,
Cade Mueller (Sr. - Coal City, Ill.),
Connor Weik (So. - Wauconda, Ill./Mundelein) and
Kyle Babin (So. - Whittier, Calif./St. John Bosco) all reached to load the bases. Knox was able to wiggle out of trouble though and stranded the tying run at third base to end the game.
Justin Coronado (Sr. - Humble, Texas/Atascocita) started on the mound and worked four frames. He struck out three and allowed four earned runs.
Ty Sagedal (So. - Burlington, Wis.) pitched the final five innings for the Blugolds and turned in his best outing of the season. He threw five scoreless innings, limiting Knox to three hits while striking out nine.
Babin led the Blugolds with two hits at the plate.
UW-Eau Claire will look to get back on track with a doubleheader against SUNY Poly on Thursday, March 21. They take on the Wildcats at 9:30 a.m. Eastern at Northeast Regional Park, with two seven-inning games on tap.
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