Game 1 Rangers win!
It was a perfect ending. The Rangers have two seniors who played all four years at UW-Parkside including the 2005 GLVC championship squad. One of those players is Todd Lorenz. He worked all nine innings and was the winning pitcher as the Rangers erased a 5-0 Kentucky Wesleyan lead to win, 6-5. The other senior who played all four years, A.J. Marquardt, lashed the winning hit to right field to win the game.
Kentucky Wesleyan won the first game of a doubleheader at Oberbruner Field, 3-1, but it was the conclusion of the second game that had the crowd buzzing Sunday afternoon.
The Panthers scored all five of their runs in the third inning. Lorenz slammed the door shut the rest of the way, allowing his team to forge a comeback.
The Rangers plated three runs in the fifth inning. The big blow was a two-RBI double down the right field line off the bat of John Hasser. A bases-loaded walk coaxed by Brett Sawyer scored the first run of the frame.
UW-Parkside got a little closer with a run in the seventh. Again it was Hasser on the spot. He singled to right-center for an RBI.
In the bottom of the ninth, and the Rangers trailing by a run, Mike Pena was drilled with a pitch to start the uprising. After a sacrifice bunt by Cooper Sniatynski, Sawyer singled to center to tie the game. Hasser was intentionally passed setting up Marquardt's heriocs. The savvy veteran took a 2-2 pitch the opposite way as Sawyer raced around third for a Ranger winner.
Lorenz struck out eight and walked only one.
In the first game, the Rangers got a solid pitching performance from Tim Schafer, who played in his last collegiate game. He gave up three earned runs in six innings, striking out four and walking one. Tom Rawski held the visitors in check with a spotless final inning.
Marquardt was 3-3 in Sunday's Game 3.
UW-Parkside ends the season with a 7-36 overall record. The team finished with a 2-28 mark in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
Other senior honorees at Oberbruner Field were Andrew Jarzabeck, who did not play this season due to injury; Andy Heller, Eric Chappell, Rawski and John Pulera.