Sunday, March 20, 2005

Indianapolis, Ind. - Mike Arensdorff went 6-for-10 with two RBIs and Kevin Kutansky was 4-for-6 with 4 RBIs as Valpo split a doubleheader with IPFW at Butler University's Field. The Crusaders won the second game 8-2 after falling to IPFW 10-5 in the first game. Eric Brauer pitched five strong innings and Adam Knobel hurled the final two innings of the nightcap to earn his fourth save.

The teams played at Butler University due to unsuitable field conditions at IPFW and Valpo.

In the win, Arensdorff put Valpo (4-7) ahead in the first inning with an RBI double, scoring Kevin Perri, who led off with a triple. The Crusaders extended their lead to 3-0 in the fourth on Colin Reynolds' RBI single and Brian Rzepka's RBI groundout.

After IPFW (9-6) trimmed Valpo's advantage to 3-2 on a two-run triple in the fourth, Kutansky gave the Crusaders a 4-2 lead with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly.

Kutansky's two-run double highlighted a four-run seventh as Perri and Rupno also added RBIs. Valpo finished with 13 hits.

Brauer (2-1) was solid over 5 innings, striking out three and walking none. The senior righthander allowed two runs and five hits before giving way to Knobel. In pitching the final 2 innings, Knobel fanned three and walked one, while allowing no runs and one hit. For the week, the senior righthander recorded two saves, allowing no runs and striking out nine in 5 innings.

In the first game, Valpo led 2-1 on Rzepka's sacrifice fly in the first and Arensdorff's first home run of the season in the third.

A five-run fourth put the Mastodons in front 6-2. Valpo timmed its deficit to 6-5 with a three-run fifth on an RBI single by Perri, a sacrifice fly by Kutansky and an RBI groundout by Matt Augustine. IPFW plated four in the sixth for the final margin.

Harvey Yergin (0-3) suffered the loss, allowing three earned runs in 4 innings. The sophomore righthander struck out two and walked one, while yielding six hits. Six errors hurt the Crusaders, who finished with eight hits.

Valpo travels to DeKalb, Ill. Tuesday to oppose Northern Illinois at 2:30 p.m.