NEW ULM, Minn. - The Martin Luther College baseball team lost both games of its doubleheader against Crown College by the scores of 5-3 and 11-7 on Friday.

Crown 5, MLC 3

Crown scored four times in the fifth inning on the way to winning game one 5-3.

The Knights started the scoring with a pair of runs in the third inning on RBI-singles by Caleb Christopher and Jared Lindemann to take a 2-0 lead.

Adam Kock (1-6) cruised through four scoreless innings on the mound for the Knights, but got into trouble in the fifth as the Storm pushed four runs across the plate with two outs thanks to four hits and one walk as they took a 4-2 advantage.

The Knights pulled within one run at 4-3 on a groundout by Joey Behm in the eighth inning, but the Storm added one insurance run in the ninth and closed the game in the ninth to secure the win.

Kock threw a complete game for the Knights, allowing five runs on nine hits while striking out six in nine innings. Christopher led the Knights with two hits.

Crown 11, MLC 7

Crown built an early 6-0 lead and held on through a rain storm in the final innings to win game two 11-7.

The Storm scored four times in the first two innings off MLC starting pitcher Dillon Solomon (1-6), and then added two more runs in the fifth to take a 6-0 lead.

The MLC bats came to life in the fifth inning as they scored two runs, and then added five runs in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 8-7. Christopher recorded his MLC single-season record 15th double of the season to drive in two in the sixth, while Jonas Lindemann also added an RBI-double in the inning.

The Storm was able to keep the Knights off the board the rest of the way, however, and also added three more runs off reliever Nate Goelzer to secure the sweep.

Solomon allowed six runs on eight hits and five walks in five innings, while Goelzer allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits in four innings of relief. 

Behm and Jonas Lindemann each recorded three hits to lead MLC.

The Knights needed to sweep the Storm to keep their hopes of reaching the UMAC Postseason Tournament alive, but fell to 5-26 on the season and 3-11 in UMAC play following the two losses. Crown improved to 16-16 overall and 8-8 in league play with the sweep.

MLC will close the season tomorrow (Saturday, May 4) when it hosts Northland College in a doubleheader scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.