No. 3 seed Luther faced No. 6 Wartburg in the opening round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament this afternoon at Mount Mercy University. With the game tied 1-1 after six, the Knights exploded for six runs in the seventh and added another run in the  eighth en route to an 8-1 victory.

Luther's lone run was a solo home run by Noah Kindem in the fourth. Kindem finished the game 3-fo-4. As a team, the Norse had just six hits.

Harry Blum (7-3) was credited with the loss. Blum went 6 1/3 innings, allowed six earned runs on seven hits, walked three and struck out 10. With his 10 k's, Blum set the single season strikeout record increasing his total to 84. Vic Olson set the record with 75 in 1967. Blum has also moved into the second slot all-time for career strikeouts with 221.

Box Score

Luther will now face the University of Dubuque at 3 p.m. for the first elimination game of the tournament. Dubuque was defeated by Loras 4-3.