NEW ULM — The Martin Luther College baseball team finished the 2019 season with a Upper Midwest Athletic Conference doubleheader split at home against Northland College on Saturday. The Knights won game one 9-2 before dropping game two 14-4.

MLC 9, Northland 2

The Knights scored eight early runs on the way to a 9-2 win in game one.

MLC left four runners on base in the first two innings, but scored four times in both the third and fourth innings to take a commanding lead. The Knights took advantage of Northland starting pitcher Carson Ferry’s seven walks in 2.2 innings, turning three of those walks and a hit by pitch into four runs in the third inning. In the fourth, Joey Behm, Alex Smothers and Nate Goelzer each drove in runs to push the lead to 8-0.

That was more than enough for starting pitcher Andrew Mantz (2-5), who threw a complete game and allowed two runs (one earned) in the eighth inning. Mantz allowed only five hits and three walks while striking out four to earn his second win of the season.

Behm and Smothers led the offensive charge for MLC with two hits apiece. Both players also scored two runs in the game, while Matt Baehman stole a pair of bases in the win.

Northland 14, MLC 4

The Lumberjacks came to life offensively in game two to earn a split with a 14-4 win.

MLC scored twice in the first inning on RBI from Caleb Christopher and Jared Lindemann, but Northland came back to score five times in the second inning.

Northland wasn’t done at the plate, scoring twice in the third, sixth and eighth innings, while also adding one run in the fifth, seventh and ninth frames.

Baehman (1-4) started the game for MLC and allowed eight runs on eight hits in 5.0 innings in defeat., but recorded two hits and one RBI at the plate. Christopher, Goelzer and Adam Westra also finished with two hits in the game.

MLC finished the season 6-27 overall and 4-12 in UMAC play following the split. Northland moved to 11-23-1 on the season and 5-11 in league play with the split.

Track and field

Men tie for third at UMAC Outdoor Championships

MORRIS — The Martin Luther College men tied for third place at the UMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday at Minnesota Morris.

The Knights finished the two-day event with 111 total points, the most in program history in the last 11 years at the conference meet.

MLC entered the day in fourth place with 56 points after Friday’s events, but jumped into a tie for third place with host UMM with 111 points. UW-Superior took home first place in the team competition with 190 total points, followed by St. Scholastica in second with 181 points.

Benjamin Bitter finished second in the 1,500 Meters with a time of 4:07.53, less than one second behind the winning time. Bitter also was part of Saturday’s 4×400-meter relay team that finished third.

Micah Otto added a second-place finish in Saturday’s 110-hurdles with a time of 16.30. Wordell and Melso also added points to the MLC total with top eight finishes in the 400.

Joshuah Kren took fourth in the 100 Meters on Saturday with a time of 11.28 while Ethan Carter finished sixth in the 5,000-meters.

In the field events, Caleb Foelske led the charge with a second-place finish in the discus with a top throw of 42.63 meters that set an MLC record. Foelske also took third in the shot put.

Balge took home a third-place finish in the triple jump with a top jump of 12.59 meters, while Andrew Scharf finished fifth in the high jump.

Women tie for 4th at UMAC meet

MORRIS, Minn. – The Martin Luther College women finished in a tie for fourth place at the UMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday.

The Knights entered day two of the two-day meet in sixth place after Friday’s events, but jumped into a tie for fourth with 43 total points at the event. MLC tied Bethany Lutheran with that 43-point total. Minnesota Morris won the event with 237 total points. UW-Superior (191 points) and St. Scholastica (188.5) rounded out the top three.

Natasha Moreton led all MLC finishers on Saturday in third place in the high jump with a jump of 1.45 meters to add six points to the Knights’ total.

Katelyn Raddatz led the MLC throwers with a fifth-place finish in the discus with a throw of 32.42 meters.

Johanna Fischer finished eighth in the shot put, while Josephine Avery led four MLC throwers in the top 12 of the hammer throw with a ninth-place finish.

Moriah Poehlman rounded out the top finishers in the field events in ninth place in the triple jump.

In the running events, the Knights’ 4×400-meter relay team took fourth place, while Emily Dobberstein finished seventh in the 100-meter hurdless.