Roseville, MN - The Martin Luther College baseball team suffered its 13th consecutive loss after being defeated in a doubleheader on Wednesday to North Central. MLC lost both games by a score of 7-3 and 14-10.

North Central 7, MLC 3

The North Central Rams opened up game one with four runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Rams completed the inning with three hits and benefited from a wild pitch and two stolen bases. North Central put up two additional runs in the second inning to make their lead 6-0 over MLC through two innings.

The Knights' bats would then wake up in the top of the third inning as Jordan Ramirez hit a triple into left field to spark the offense. His high school teammate, Alex Ritter, drove him in on the next at-bat with a single up the middle. Ritter would then find his way home when the Knights did a double steal. However, the Rams got out of the jam when they struck out Carter Seltz at the plate.

Both teams would remain scoreless the next few innings until the eighth, when Jackson Lindemann hit an RBI single to centerfield, scoring Spencer Lilienthal. MLC cut it to 6-3, but the Rams were able to build a further cushion to their lead with a run in th bottom of the inning. With that run, North Central closed things out in the top half of the ninth inning to earn their second win of the season.

Sam Rodriguez was credited with the loss for MLC, pitching 4.1 innings, while surrendering six runs (five earned). Zach Klement came in as relief for Rodriguez and limited any further damage by allowing just one run in 3.2 innings of work on the mound.

Ritter had two of the seven total team hits for MLC.

North Central 14, MLC 10

In game two, MLC began to find some momentum when they scored two runs in the first two innings. Lilienthal legged out a triple and was rewarded with a run scored when Mason Cox hit a sacrifice fly. In the second inning, Rodriguez added the other run for the Knights, ripping a single down the left field line that barely stayed fair.

The Rams answered with three runs in the bottom of the second inning. North Central did their damage all with two-outs, scoring from two hits and two errors from the MLC fielders.

MLC got back one run in the third inning to tie it up 3-3, when Lindemann hit an RBI single to bring Ritter home.

After the Rams reclaimed the lead 7-4 through four innings, the Knights put together a five-run top of the fifth inning to return the favor, giving them the 9-7 lead. MLC got back into the game thanks to three consecutive singles to right field, including one from Cox that scored two runs.

The MLC lead wouldn't hold up much longer though, as North Central responded with four runs of their own, which made it 11-9 with the Rams in front.

The Knights would get one final run in the top of the sixth inning from pinch hitter, Christian Bachenburg, who hit his first career homerun to left field. The freshman's homer cut it to 11-10, but the Rams once again knocked in three runs in the following inning to complete the sweep over MLC.

Matt Rieger started the game for MLC and threw 4 innings for a tired MLC pitching staff. 

Meanwhile, the Knights' lineup had their second highest run total (10) of the season and had a lot of solid moments at the plate, as six batters had mult-hit games.

Up next for MLC (3-18, 0-13) is a three-game homestand against Minnesota-Morris. First pitch will be at 3 p.m. on Friday, April 28.