Baseball: Aurora Christian closes in on NAC title

Senior R.D. Lutze and his Aurora Christian teammates are a perfect 10 in the Northeastern Athletic Conference once again.

A 6-foot-3, 220-pound right-handed pitcher committed to Illinois-Springfield, Lutze struck out 11 in 6 innings to help the NAC-leading Eagles defeat second-place Westminster Christian 6-1 at Stuart Park in Aurora Tuesday.

Aurora Christian improved to 17-4-1 overall, 10-0 in conference play. That matches the 10-0 NAC record Lutze and his basketball teammates posted this winter en route to the league title in that sport in the school's first year of NAC membership.

Though the baseball Eagles haven't clinched anything yet, the win gave them a 2-game cushion in the loss column with 4 games to play.

"This was basically for (the title) because everybody else in the conference has at least 4 losses," said second-year Westminster coach Steve Gallaher, whose team slipped to 11-14 overall, 9-2 in NAC play.

Aurora Christian can clinch at least a share of the NAC crown with a win in the finale of the 2-game series in Elgin on Thursday.

"We kind of knew this was going to come down to us two," Aurora Christian coach Andy Zorger said of the Warriors. "We did what we needed to do with defense and pitching."

The Eagles played errorless defense behind Lutze (4-0), who allowed 1 unearned run (due to a passed ball) on 6 hits and a walk.

Offensively, Aurora Christian jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Facing junior pitcher Tyler Schoemann, they loaded the bases for Lutze via a single sandwiched between 2 walks. The cleanup hitter then delivered a double to right field, scoring Drew Wagner and Tyler Dissell for a 2-0 lead. The Eagles scored twice more in the inning on a fielder's choice off the bat of Jacob Daley.

Additional scoring was overkill for Lutze. Though the Warriors were well aware of his 12-to-6 curveball, they still couldn't hit it.

"When I was warming up it didn't feel good," Lutze said of his curve, "but that's because I was on flat ground. Once I got on the mound it felt better and it started working pretty well for me."

The Warriors turned to relief pitcher Nathan Martinez in the second inning and he kept them in the game. The sophomore right-hander allowed earned runs in the third and sixth innings and walked 6, but he struck out a personal-best 9 batters in 5 innings.

"The curveball was working good and I was dotting the fastball," Martinez said. "They hit off me, but I was hitting my spots and doing the best I could."

Senior Justin Rasmussen went 2-for-3 against Lutze for the Warriors.

Drew Wagner pitched a scoreless seventh with 2 strikeouts to seal the win. Dustin Barrett and Ethan Stoneberg each had 2 hits for Aurora Christian.