Rams drop IIAC-opening series with Luther

Held to four runs over the weekend, Cornell College's baseball team dropped all three games in its Iowa Conference-opening series with Luther at Ash Park Field.

The Rams fell 7-1 in Saturday's scheduled nine-inning opener. Luther went on to sweep Sunday's doubleheader, winning 2-1 in eight innings and 10-2 in the finale.

Cornell (2-6 overall, 0-3 IIAC) totaled 21 hits in the series, although stranded 20 runners on base. The Rams were victims to a few big innings and helped Luther's cause with eight errors in the field. The Norse (12-3, 3-0) tallied just three more hits than the Rams.

"Our pitchers threw strikes and did a real nice job overall," Cornell head coach Adam Hadenfeldt said. "Of the 24 innings, we played well for 20 or 21 of them. If we can shore up those other few innings, we'll start to win ball games. We're doing a lot of things well. There's a lot of potential for growth."

The Rams received a solid pitching outing from Adam Butler in the opener. Luther managed only four hits through the first seven innings off the senior right-hander before breaking open a 4-0 lead with three runs in the eighth. Nick Norris worked a scoreless ninth in relief of Butler.

"Butler has been consistent and has kept us in every ball game," Hadenfeldt. "He deserves better than the record (1-3) we've given him."

Jesse Searls and Zach Rogers led the Rams with two hits apiece. Rogers singled home Matt Pfister for Cornell's lone run in the eighth.

Cornell junior Charlie Muir fired seven strong innings of three-hit ball in Game 1 Sunday. He struck out four and walked two before leaving the game with the score tied 1-1 entering the eighth. Luther delivered the winning run on a one-out double in the eighth.

Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, the Rams staged a rally with runners on second and third and one out. The Norse worked out of the jam with back-to-back groundouts to end the game.

Senior Robert Carlson accounted for two of Cornell's six hits. Andrew Patzke went 1-for-3 with an RBI triple that scored Rogers in the first frame.

Cornell took a 2-0 lead into the fourth inning of Sunday's second game. The Rams gained the early advantage on an RBI single from Rogers, followed by a run-scoring double from Patzke in the third.

Luther tied the game at 2-2 in the fourth and broke it open with five more in the fifth. The Rams were limited to three hits over the final four innings.

Rogers finished 2-for-3 with an RBI. Carlson and Milton Kurschner each scored a run for the Rams, who were outhit 12-7.

"We're getting hits, but struggling to get hits with runners in scoring position," Hadenfeldt said. "That's something we'll continue to work through."

Coming up - The Rams are scheduled to play Midwest Conference foe Carroll in a doubleheader Saturday, April 2 in Waukesha, Wis. Cornell resumes IIAC play Tuesday, April 5 with a twin bill at the University of Dubuque.

Stats and streaks - Patzke went 3-for-10 in the Luther series and extended his hitting streak to six games. He is batting .333 on the season and ranks eighth in the IIAC with a .593 slugging percentage.

Rogers, who went 5-for-11 over the weekend, has hit safely in his last four games. He leads all Ram regulars with 12 hits and a .364 batting average.