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heitoffwillwartburg
Kelsey Whaley
2
Wartburg WAR23 6-7, 1-3 A-R-C
9
Winner LUTHER LCBB23 11-8, 4-0 A-R-C
Wartburg WAR23
6-7, 1-3 A-R-C
2
Final
9
LUTHER LCBB23
11-8, 4-0 A-R-C
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Wartburg WAR23 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 9 2
LUTHER LCBB23 0 0 1 0 1 6 0 1 X 9 11 1

W: Klocke, Nolan (3-0) L: Joey Ciero (0-2)

13
Wartburg WAR23 6-8, 1-4 arc
14
Winner LUTHER LCBB23 12-8, 5-0 arc
Wartburg WAR23
6-8, 1-4 arc
13
Final
14
LUTHER LCBB23
12-8, 5-0 arc
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Wartburg WAR23 1 3 1 0 0 1 1 4 2 13 15 2
LUTHER LCBB23 5 2 0 1 3 0 0 3 X 14 14 3

W: Dufoe, Nick (2-1) L: Aaron Eybers (1-1) S: Thiesse, Kaleb (1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Norse improve to 5-0 in A-R-C

Bryan Nikkel gets career wins 200 and 201

DECORAH, Iowa – Head coach Bryan Nikkel picked up his 200th and 201st career wins in the doubleheader against Wartburg. The Norse defeated the Knights 9-2 and 14-13 to sweep the Knights at home for the first time since 2019. Luther improves to 12-8 overall and 5-0 to start American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) play. The Norse are off to their best start in A-R-C play since 2021.
 
GAME 1: Norse (9), Knights (2)
Once again it was the visitor jumping on the early lead in the second inning but the Norse didn't stay behind for long. As they tied things up with an RBI single into left field from Charlie Rubendall (Minneapolis, Minn. / DeLaSalle). Luther tacked on another lone run in the bottom fifth off of Noah Sebben (Moline, Ill. / Moline) double into right field to bring home Peyton Lindmark (Bettendorf, Iowa / Pleasant Valley) for the slim 2-1 lead.
 
Then in the bottom of the sixth the bats got going for the Norse with one out. All starting with a double from Joshua Matanich (Lake City, Minn. / Lincoln) who was followed by a double from Gabe Atkins (Castle Pines, Colo. / Rock Canyon). Lindmark laid down the sac bunt to bring in another run for the Norse. Then it was Mark Prince (Encinitas, Calif. / La Costa Canyon) who ripped a double in to right center field bring home another. With two outs Sebben hit a three-run home-run to bring the Luther lead to 8-1.
 
The final run for the Norse would come in the bottom of the eighth with runners advancing on a balk. The Knights would score one in the nineth but it was far too late for a comeback. First year Nolan Klocke (Hayfield, Minn. / Hayfield) got the win on the mound for the Norse improving to 3-0 on the season and had help from Harry Blum (Fridley, Minn. / Fridley) and CJ Boudreaux (Humble, Texas / Atascocita). Head coach Bryan Nikkel reached the 200-career win club with the 9-2 victory.
 
GAME 2: Norse (14), Knights (13)
The Knights scored in their first at bat which gave the Norse a chance to take over the lead once again. They responded well adding five runs. Matanich earend two RBIs off his single with Aiden Michna (Moline, Ill. / Moline) and Sebben speeding through the base path. With Peyton Lindmark and Matanich on base Prince then single up the middle to score Matanich. Will Heithoff (Winterset, Iowa / Winterset) hit a double into left field building the Norse to a 5-1 lead.
 
Knights added three runs cutting the lead to just 1 but once again the Luther followed up with two runs of their own. With a Rubendall double and a Matanich sac fly for a three-run lead. Wartburg chipped away again with another run in the third.
 
Luther tacked on a single run from a Michna single and three runs in the fifth. Sebben hit his second home run of the day with another three-run home run into left field for an 11-5 lead. The Knights followed up with single runs in the top of the sixth and seventh. But then wild in the top of the eighth. Wartburg tied the game at 11 with two outs from the home run of their own.
 
Luther wasn't going to let that phase them. With the bases loaded Prince hit a sac fly bring the leading run across. He was followed up with a Heithoff single and advanced to second on the throwing error as two runs came home. The Norse took a 14-11 lead but the game was far from over.
 
Wartburg came within two before the pitching change from the Norse in Kaleb Thiesse (Kasson, Minn. / Kasson-Mantorville). The Knights scored one even with Luther getting the first out of the inning. Thiesse struck the next batter down. But when the final at bat of the Knights came up he would foul out to Sebben to close the game. The Norse getting the slim 14-13 win. They start the A-R-C season at 5-0 for the first time since 2021. And Nikkel would get win number 201.
 
TOP NORSE
  • Noah Sebben (Moline, Ill. / Moline) hit two three-run home-runs in the back-to-back games. He had four RBIs in game one.
  • Nolan Klocke (Hayfield, Minn. / Hayfield) and Nick Dufoe (Adel, Iowa / Adel-DeSoto-Minburn) picked up wins on the mound today for the Norse.
UP NEXT
Luther travels to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a double header against Coe College on Tuesday, April 4th with games at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. CT.
 
For all the latest on Luther Baseball, stay tuned to luthernorse.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
 
 
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