MEQUON, Wis. - For the first time since the inaugural season of NAC baseball, Marian University baseball (6-11, 2-2 NACC) earned a road sweep of Concordia Wisconsin with 12-3 and 9-2 victories.

Marian and Concordia Wis. traded a pair of runs each in the first inning but crooked numbers in the third and fifth inning gave Marian a big lead.  Senior Michael Pappas doubled to right center to score fellow senior Jordan Walker and junior Travis Slywka to put the Sabres on the board in the opening inning.  The Sabres then regained the lead in the top of the third when Pappas once again drove in a pair with a single to left field.  Later in the inning, junior Matt Nordlund brought in Walker to put MU ahead 5-2.

The Sabres then plated another five runs in the fifth inning off of six base knocks.  Junior Jake Falish opened the scoring for the inning with a double to right field plating Nordlund before freshman Sean Meyer was brought in with a single from sophomore Nick Bastien.  After a wild pitch, senior Hunter Berry singled to plate Falish.  Then after a sacrifice bunt from Slywka, Walker doubled down the right field line to bring in senior Hunter Berry and Bastien to put the Sabres ahead 10-2.

The Falcons plated a run in the bottom of the seventh, but the Sabres answered with two more runs in the top of the ninth to seal the win.  Nordlund started the ninth-inning scoring when he tripled down the right field line to plate freshman Landon Gosch and Meyer closed out the scoring for the game with a single to plate Nordlund.

Sophomore Zachariah Sandoval (1-3) was dominant on the hill for Marian going 8.0 innings scattering eight hits and allowing only three earned runs for his first win of the season.  The Sabres had four hitters with multi-hit games led by Pappas who finished 2-4 with four runs driven in.  Nordlund also went 2-5 with a pair of runs scored and a run driven in, while Walker went 1-2 with two runs scored and two runs driven in.

The Sabres jumped all over the Falcons to open game two of the twin bill leading 7-0 after five innings.  Marian scored four of those runs in the first inning with all of the damage coming with two outs.  Pappas started the two-out rally with another double that plated Berry before he was brought in by freshman Josh Gates.  Nordlund then opened his second game with a triple to plate Gates before Meyer brought him in with another double.  Pappas continued his hot hitting in the third inning with a double that plated Walker before he was brought in with a sacrifice fly from Falish.  Two innings later, Falish hit his second sacrifice fly in as many at bats to bring in Gates to complete the 7-0 start for the Sabres.

Concordia Wisconsin cut into the deficit with a run in the fifth and sixth, but the Sabres equalized those runs with a pair in the seventh.  Meyer opened the inning with a single to plate Pappas before Falish hit his third sacrifice fly to bring in Gates.

Junior Jordan Bock (2-2) gave the Sabres a big start going 8.0 innings only allowing four hits and a pair of earned runs.  Pappas closed out his strong day going 2-4 with three runs scored and a pair of runs batted in.  Meyer also had a perfect game at the dish going 4-4 with two runs driven in, while Falish only had one official at bat but still brought in three runs.

Marian is back in action tomorrow, Wednesday, April 11, traveling to St. Norbert for a single game at 3 p.m. in non-conference action.

--FightBlueFight--