Luther College (Iowa) 8, North Central College (Ill.) 6

La Crosse, Wis. - Luther College (Iowa) earned an 8-6 victory over North Central College (Ill.) in the opening round Wednesday at the NCAA Division III Baseball Midwest Regional at Copeland Park. Luther (Iowa) improves to 33-12 on the season.  The Norse advance to play the winner of Kalamazoo College (Mich.)/Concordia University Chicago (Ill.) Thursday, May 19 at 7:45 p.m.  North Central (Ill.), ranked 13th on D3baseball.com, falls to 30-11 on the year and will play in an elimination game Thursday at 1:15 p.m. versus the loser of Kalamazoo (Mich.)/Concordia Chicago (Ill.).
 
Luther (Iowa) got things started in the top of the first on Alex Weber's double on the first pitch of the game.  After advancing to third on a fly ball out, Weber scored on a sacrifice fly from Czenvic Rojer to make it 1-0.  Mitch Knippenberg singled to left with two outs and advanced to second on a wild pitch.  Joe Silversmith's double to left drove in Knippenberg to give Luther (Iowa) 2-0 lead.
 
The Norse increased their lead In the top of the third as two walks and a single loaded the bases. Knippenberg's sacrifice fly scored Weber to make it 3-0. Silversmith doubled for the second time in two at-bats, scoring Jon Opdahl to give Luther (Iowa) a 4-0 lead. The Norse added two more in the top of the fourth.  After a single from Max Uetz, Weber hit a two-out, two-run home run to left field to make it 6-0.
 
North Central (Ill.) answered back in the bottom of the fourth. Singles from Bobby Smith and Chris Hill led-off the inning, and with one out, Nick Sotiros hit a three-run home run to center field to cut the lead to 6-3. The Cardinals added two more in the fifth after a Sing Fong single and two-run home run from Smith.

In the sixth, Luther's (Iowa) Cody Reimer doubled to open the frame, followed by a Uetz single, moving Reimer to third.  Jake Halverson laid down a sacrifice bunt, scoring Reimer to give the Norse a 7-5 advantage. Knippenberg doubled to left with one out in the seventh and later scored on a Reimer RBI single to right for a 8-5 lead.
 
North Central (Ill.) got a run in the bottom of the eighth. After a double from Michael Mateja, the throw into second base got away from the Luther (Iowa) fielders, and Mateja scored on the two-base error, cutting the Norse lead to 8-6. 
 
Nate Beckman (10-2) earned the win for Luther (Iowa), pitching his sixth complete game of the season.  He went 9.0 innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on nine hits while striking out four and walking one.  Weber led the Norse going 2-for-3 with a home run, double, two RBI and three runs.  Knippenberg was 2-for-3 with a double, RBI, and two runs. Reimer finished 2-for-4 with a double, RBI, and a run scored while Silversmith had two doubles and two RBI for the Norse.
 
Jordan Van Dyck (4-3) took the loss for North Central (Ill.), giving up four runs on five hits in 2.2 innings.  He struck out one and walked two. The Cardinals used a total of six pitchers in the game.  Smith went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI, and two runs while Sotiros had the three-run home run.