WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - The Martin Luther College baseball team lost both games on day one of its annual trip to Florida. The Knights opened the season with a 9-2 loss to Grove City, and followed that with an 11-0 loss to Neumann in seven innings.

Grove City 9, MLC 2

The Knights opened the season with a 9-2 loss to Grove City in nine innings.

The Wolverines struck first with three runs of MLC starting pitcher Matt Baehman (0-1), and then answered an MLC run in the top of the second inning with three more runs in the third inning to take a 6-1 lead.

Reliever Noah Panzer struck out four in three scoreless innings to keep MLC in the game, but Grove City put the game away with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Third baseman Alex Smothers was the top hitter for MLC with a pair of RBI doubles and finished the day 2-3 with a walk and two runs batted in.

Neumann 11, MLC 0

The Knights were unable to slow down Neumann in the second game in an 11-0 defeat in seven innings.

Neumann jumped on top early with three runs in both the second and third frames off Dillon Solomon (0-1), who started the game for MLC and allowed six runs (five earned) on four hits and five walks.

Neumann finished with 11 hits off MLC pitchers, and added one more run in the fifth, followed by two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings of MLC relievers Tyler Roecker and Callahan Diersen.

Andrew Mantz was the top hitter for MLC with a pair of hits, while Nate Goelzer and Baehman each finished with one hit.

The Knights' game against Penn State-Brandywine scheduled for tomorrow (Saturday, March 3) has been postponed due to travel complications for Brandywine. That double header will now be played on Tuesday, March 6, at 9 a.m. local time. MLC will return to action on Sunday, March 4, in a double header against Anna Maria. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 9 a.m. local time.