The Luther College baseball team hosted Wartburg College this afternoon and swept the Knights posting wins of 6-3 and 11-1 in eight innings. This was the final time these two teams will face each other in a regular season conference game, in a series that has seen 195 games and started in 1943. On July 1 of this year, Luther will be an official member of the Midwest Conference.
With the two wins this afternoon, the Norse remain atop the American Rivers Conference standings with a mark of 16-5, 26-9 overall. The Norse have now won three in a row. Wartburg fell to 8-10 in league play, 17-13 overall.
In game one, Luther scored four of its six runs in the second inning thanks to four hits and one Wartburg error.
Zach Gwost gave the Norse an early lead in the first, driving in
Noah Kindem with an rbi single to right field.
Ike Swanson led the team with two rbi, while Gwost, Kindem and
Xavier Millan were all credited with one.
Nolan Klocke (5-0) allowed three unearned runs on six hits in eight full innings of work. He faced 33 batters, walked three and struck out nine.
CJ Boudreaux was credited with the save, his seventh of the year, tieing the single season record set by
Blake Jondle in 2024. He also tied the career school record of 10 saves set by Collin Chalmers (2019-22).
Box Score
In game two, the Norse tallied 11 runs on nine hits, scoring three runs in the first, one in the third, three in the fifth and four in the eighth. Kindem ended the game with a walk-off three-run home run to right field, his 11th of the year, tieing the single season mark set by
Mark Prince in 2025. Kindem ended the game 2-for-4 and scored three times.
Ryan Truman, who was 2-for-4 at the plate drove in four runs. Gwost, who leads the Norse with a .418 average, was also 3-for-4 and was credited with two rbi.
Millan, stole three bases, two in the fifth frame, that included stealing home. He leads the team with 26 swipes out of 29 tries.
The story of the game was the performance of freshman hurler
Sam Dick who made his first collegiate start on the mound. Dick pitched eight innings and allowed one unearned run on four hits. He faced 27 batters, did not issue a walk and struck out six.
Sam Amundson took over in the seventh and got out of a bases loaded jam with three strikeouts.
Box Score
Luther will have its opportunity to win the regular season championship at home this Friday and Saturday when it will host Simpson College. The Storm are in second place in the
league standings with a mark of 12-6. Friday's game will start at 3 p.m. and Saturday's double header will begin at Noon.
