The 10th-ranked Wartburg College baseball team used multiple big innings in both games on Friday as the Knights won a pair of games against Buena Vista by scores of 8-6 and 14-6.

Wartburg broke a scoreless tie in the second inning of the opener by putting up six runs to take a 6-0 lead.  The Knights added two more runs in the sixth before BVU got a run in the bottom half on a fielding error.  The Beavers added the final two runs in the seventh on an RBI single from Tanner Truesdell followed by a sacrifice fly by Bennett Mann.

Bryce Wessels went 3-for-4 at the plate with Brandon Wessels going 2-for-3, including his conference-leading fourth triple of the year.

Justin Lange suffered his first loss of the year, allowing eight runs (five earned) on 11 hits while striking out seven and walking three.  Dalton Mason pitched around a pair of base hits in the seventh.

The Knights again struck early in game two, scoring a run in the first and five in the second for a 6-0 lead.

Senior Eric Gurbacki blasted a two-run home run in the bottom half to cut the deficit to 6-2 only to see Wartburg get one back in the fourth.  Thomas Wisecup, who went 3-for-4 in the game, added a key two-run single in the bottom half to get within 7-4.

Bryce Wessels tripled home Truesdell before another sacrifice fly from Mann made it 7-6.

The Knights (21-2, 11-1 IIAC) would go on to push the margin back up to 11-6 with a pair of home runs and a wild pitch in the sixth.  Two more runs in the seven nearly put the game away at 13-6 before adding the final run in the ninth.

Truesdell went 2-for-5 with a double and was one of three Beavers with two hits.

Kendall Hazel got the start on the hill and was forced out after just 1.1 innings where he allowed six runs (all earned) on four hits and walking four.  Wes Onken then came on and kept the Knights in check as BVU mounted its comeback.  He pitched the next 3.2 innings out of the bullpen and was charged with three runs (two earned) on six hits.  As a staff, BVU walked nine batters in the game.

Buena Vista dips to 14-5 overall (4-4 IIAC) and will look to even the series on Saturday afternoon when it plays the final two games with first pitch of game one slated for 1:00pm.