APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University baseball team finally got Kevin Kangas his first collegiate victory, but all the Vikings could come away with Tuesday was a split of a nonconference doubleheader with UW-Stout.
Lawrence (5-12) took the nightcap 6-4, but Stout (13-14) won the opener 4-2 at Whiting Field.
Kangas earned his first collegiate win, going five innings and allowing four hits while striking out seven and walking four. Kangas, who has pitched extremely well this season, has been a victim of a lack of run support in earlier games, but the Vikings scored four times in the third to take control.
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the third, Matt Frelich started the inning with a single to center field. After an out, Tim O'Toole followed with a single, and Evan Neuens' bunt single loaded the bases. Sam Laes was hit by a pitch to force in a run.
Adam Fritsch then grounded to third base, but the throw home was wild and two runners scored to put Lawrence up 3-1. Frank Forseth drove in another run with a ground out and Lawrence led 4-1.
Lawrence made it 6-1 with a pair of runs in the fourth. An error and a walk put two runners aboard, and Laes belted a two-run double off the left field wall score both.
The Vikings then had to hang on, as Stout scored a run in the fifth off Kangas and two more in the sixth against the Lawrence bullpen. The two runs in the sixth came without a hit.
Brad Hauser came on in relief in the seventh, and a walk, a throwing error, and a passed ball but runners at second and third with one out. Matt Krause then flied out to right field, and Marc Damrow attempted to tag and score on the play but was thrown out at the plate to end the game. O'Toole made the throw from right field, and Frelich relayed to Fritsch, who applied the tag.
In the opener, Lawrence starter Chris Clouthier pitched six solid innings but things didn't go right for the Vikings in the seventh.
Lawrence took a 2-1 lead into the the seventh after scoring a pair of runs in the fifth. Fritsch delivered a run-scoring single, and Hawk Haiduke's ground out later in the inning scored Bryan Rosen.
A dribbler off the bat of Nick Klaren went for an infield single, and Luke Schultz pulled back his bat on a bunt and slapped the ball into left field. A bunt single then loaded the bases with no outs.
The Blue Devils squeezed home one run to tie the score at 2-2, and Tanner Kattre singled past a diving Forseth at third to score two more and give Stout a 4-2 edge.
Lawrence returns to action on Saturday when it hosts St. Norbert in a Midwest Conference doubleheader at 1:00 p.m.