INDIANOLA, Iowa - The Wartburg College baseball team opened its American Rivers Conference series at Simpson College Sunday afternoon, falling 5-4 in game one prior to a 7-6 game two win.

The Knights move their overall record to 8-12 and 6-8 within the A-R-C.

Steven Lawrence totaled three runs batted in through two games while Max Goodhue recorded four hits.

Simpson 5, Wartburg 4 (8 inn.)
The opening contest of the series went into extras with the home team walking off on a RBI single in the eighth inning.

Wartburg took a 3-0 lead with early offense, scoring in the second from a Bryce Butler RBI single and a two-run single from Lawrence. 

After the Storm plated one run in each the third and fourth to cut Wartburg's lead to one, the Knights responded in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead on a triple from Ethan Hayes, scoring Goodhue.

Simpson tied the game in the sixth, where it stood until extra innings. The Storm scored the game-winning run with a two-out single to earn the victory.

Aaron Eybers took the loss for the Knights, pitching 2.1 innings in relief of starting pitcher Dylan Gotto, who allowed three earned runs in 5.1 innings while tallying seven strikeouts.

Wartburg 7, Simpson 6
A majority of the Knights' offense came during the sixth inning, scoring four runs off three hits to take a 5-3 lead. Hayes and Butler had RBI hits along with a fielder's choice from Cael Boehmer that scored Zachary Wesolowski and a sacrifice fly from Lawrence.

The home team tied the game at 5-5 with run in each the sixth and seventh innings.

In the top of the eighth, Butler and Keaton Gray reached base on a walk and hit by pitch, respectively. The pair then advanced into scoring position off a wild pitch and came around to score from a Parker Ridge 2-RBI single.

Down 7-5, Simpson strung together a trio of hits and scored a run in the bottom half of the eighth to cut the lead to 7-6, but Wartburg's William Armstrong forced a groundout for the final out of the game to seal his first collegiate victory on the mound.

Darren Kilpatrick pitched the first six innings prior to being relieved by Armstrong, allowing three earned runs with six strikeouts.

Ridge, Goodhue, and Hayes each had two-hit performances.

Up Next
The series between Wartburg and Simpson concludes tomorrow afternoon in Indianola with another doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.