PHOENIX, Ariz. -- The Lawrence University baseball team picked up its first wins of the season with a doubleheader sweep of Midwest Conference rival Knox College on Monday. The Vikings won the opener 10-9 and took the nightcap 7-3.
Lawrence (2-3) got a pair of good pitching performances from freshmen Andrew Wilt and Ben Konetzke. In the opener, Wilt went six innings, allowing seven hits while striking out six and walking three. Konetzke went the distance in the nightcap, allowing eight hits while striking out three and walking two.
The Vikings built a 3-0 lead in the opener with single runs in each of the first three innings. Tim Salm, who went 3-for-4 with five RBIs, gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead with a run-scoring double in the first. Wes Otte had a run-scoring single in the second, and Tommy Schmidt had a sacrifice fly in the third.
Lawrence expanded the lead to 8-0 with five runs in the fourth. The big blow in the inning was Salm's two-run single, and Otte had another run-scoring single.
Knox battled back with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Lawrence expanded its lead to 10-3 with a pair of runs in the sixth. Salm again did the damage, as his single scored Hawk Haiduke and Doug McEneaney.
The Prairie Fire scored twice in the sixth to trim lead to 10-5 and then scored four times in the bottom of the seventh. Ben Webster came on in relief and gave up a pair of hits before striking out Zach Ricketts to pick up his first save of the season.
In the nightcap, the Vikings scored in each of the first five innings to take command. Ray Tucker went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs and McEneaney was 2-for-4 with three RBIs to pace the Lawrence offense.
Knox led 1-0 before Lawrence tied it in the bottom of the first on Schmidt's run-scoring double. Lawrence then took the lead for good with three runs in the second. Tucker had a run-scoring single and McEneaney later followed with a two-run double to give Lawrence a 4-1 lead.
The Prairie Fire got a run back in the top of the third, but Lawrence tacked on an unearned run in the bottom half of the inning when Webster singled and later scored on an error.
Lawrence took a 6-2 lead with another run in the fourth when Tucker singled and later scored on McEneaney's single. The Vikings made it 7-2 in the fifth when Robert Rashid reached on an error and later scored on Tucker's RBI single.
Knox picked up a run in the seventh, but Konetzke slammed the door by getting Adam Estergard to ground out to end the game.