The Marquette club baseball team went 1-4 this weekend, losing all three of its home games to Wisconsin-Whitewater Friday and Saturday before splitting a doubleheader with Wisconsin-Fond du Lac on the road Sunday.
Inept baserunning and inexplicable coaching miscues negated solid performances by the young Golden Eagles.
Marquette lost its first game Saturday, 3-2, before being routed 14-1 in five innings in the nightcap. The team rebounded to beat Fond du Lac, 11-10, in the first game before losing the second, 9-8.
In the first game Friday night, Marquette made several mental errors on the basepaths. Had Marquette avoided the lapses, Curtis Peters' ninth-inning homer would have been a game-winning grand slam; instead it was just a two-run shot.
Marquette had control of the first game of Saturday's doubleheader against Whitewater until the bottom of the fifth inning when a huge mental mistake by third base coach Adam Maruszewski cost the Golden Eagles a guaranteed run.
Right fielder Kelsey Harper reached on an error to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a single by shortstop Edd Gaus. A sacrifice bunt by center fielder Justin Munzel moved both runners up.
Peters lofted a high fly ball that left fielder Rob Holtzberger lost in the sun. Assuming the ball would drop in, Maruszewski sent Harper home from third without tagging up. Unfortunately, center fielder Tyler Kattre swooped in to catch the ball and Harper was easily doubled off third base to end the inning.
"That really took the wind out of our sails," Marquette player-coach Steve Laabs said.
The Warhawks Nick Blanchet led off the sixth with a long home run off Marquette southpaw Mike Sherwood, who threw seven strong innings, allowing six runs while striking out seven and walking two.
Whitewater scored two more runs in the seventh. Marquette scored one in the final inning on a sacrifice fly by Munzel, but that was all the Golden Eagles could muster.
"It's hard with so many young guys," Laabs said. "We've been in a lot of games, and this is the fourth game we've let go in the late innings. It's frustrating to blow a game like that."
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 19 2005.