OAK CREEK, Wis. – Milwaukee Area Technical College couldn't overcome some brief lapses in the field during its two home defeats to Rock Valley Tuesday.

In Game 1, MATC starter Luke Klekamp fanned 10 batters, but a seven-run seventh-inning by the Golden Eagles carried them to a 11-4 win over the Stormers.

Following the first game, MATC jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before giving up seven unanswered runs in a 7-3 defeat to the Golden Eagles.

"I feel good where we're at," Stormers head coach Caleb Bounds said after his team's two-game series loss to Rock Valley.  "I think that there's a lot of positives out of it.

"Now, it's just learning from these mistakes and now correcting it and getting back into the win column."

Game 1: Stormers bullpen unravels late
After closing a 4-0 gap thanks to a two-run bomb by Cole Wissen in the fourth, MATC had a chance to get back into the thick of things before a seven-run seventh-inning outburst by Rock Valley put the game out of reach. As a result, the Stormers dropped the opening game 11-4 in seven innings.

MATC starter Luke Klekamp looked good for the majority of his start outside of a shaky fourth inning, where he allowed four earned runs on four hits, including a three-run bomb by Nick Mardis and then another solo shot by Chase Wiese.

"Klekamp knows, he just had three bad pitches in one inning and gave up two singles and a home run," Bounds said. "That's the biggest thing, is if he limits it [bad pitches]. I think he struck out 10 batters, like, he pitched really well, but just had three bad pitches."

Trailing 4-0 through four innings, the Stormers finally got on the scoreboard following a two-run blast from Cole Wissen. Wissen's home run helped swing the momentum back towards the Stormers as they had cut their deficit to a pair of runs a little over halfway through the nightcap.

Klekamp finished six innings strong, allowing four runs on five hits while striking out 10 and walking three, but MATC's bullpen couldn't keep things close. In the seventh inning, relievers Patrick Wajda and Connnor Ziman combined to allow seven runs (six earned) on five hits with zero punchouts and three hit-by-pitches.

"When Wissen hit his homer I felt really good about our chances," Bounds said of his team's odds to formulate a comeback. "We got the momentum back…unfortunately our bullpen let us down and we gave up a seven-spot in the seventh. It's just unfortunate because we ended up scoring two runs in the seventh and it's like, what could have been?"

The Golden Eagles opened the carnage in the seventh by loading the bases after two hit-by-pitches and a defensive error by the Stormers. This led to three straight singles that helped plate four runs before another RBI single, RBI double, and sacrifice-flyout scored the final three runs of the inning.

With the gap widened to a seven-run Golden Eagles' lead, MATC totaled one single and a pair of walks in the bottom half of the seventh, which led to the Stormers scoring two runs on a wild pitch and a passed ball before recording their final out to lose by seven.

STAT BOOK (Game 1)
Wissen paced the Stormers with a two-run home run and a pair of runs scored. Robert Crawford III went 1-for-3 with one double. Carlito Collins, Easton Morehouse, Camdin Jansen, Brady Johnson, and Bryant Armijo-Martin each contributed a single apiece. Klekamp suffered the loss despite striking out 10 over six innings of work.

Game 2: Costly mistakes prove pivotal in four-run loss to the Golden Eagles
MATC clinged onto a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth until one defensive error by the Stormers directly led to three unearned runs, all of which gave Rock Valley all the momentum it needed to end up claiming a 7-3 win to complete the series sweep.

The Stormers jumped out in front 3-0 in the bottom of the first following a two-RBI double by Ryan Quello and an RBI groundout by Carlito Collins. They held their three-run lead up until the third inning when the Golden Eagles countered with a two-run inning of their own off an RBI flyout and RBI single.

Things took a turn for the worst the ensuing inning when Rock Valley capitalized on an error by the Stormers with two outs. The untimely error by MATC's defense directly led to one run before the Golden Eagles managed to take a 5-3 lead following a two-RBI single by Jameson Johnson.

Over the course of the final three innings, the Stormers' hitters were limited to just one drawn walk and one hit, a single by Stormers' designated hitter Peyton Flees.

"Sometimes I just feel like we get complacent and the big thing is we have to continue to put on pressure and do those things," Bounds said.  "I don't think it's a lack of want or anything like that, I think the guys are trying, but sometimes it's easy to feel really good when you jump out to an early lead."

Rock Valley scored the final two runs of the contest off an RBI double in the fifth and a solo shot by Gavin Obremski in the seventh.

The two-game series defeat at the hands of the Golden Eagles moved MATC back below .500% with a 9-10 overall record.

"It's never easy whenever you go 0-2 on the day," Bounds said. "Rock Valley is a good squad and I think we showed that we could compete with them…one error and then a couple of hits and they scored three runs. That was the end of the ball game right there."

STAT BOOK (Game 2)
Flees went 2-for-2 with a pair of singles to pace the Stormers. Ryan Quello added one single and two RBIs. Brady Johnson tallied one single and a run scored. Robert Crawford III went 1-for-3 with a run. Jakeb Lequia picked up the loss on the bump, giving up six runs (three earned) on six hits while striking out four and walking one over five innings.

UP NEXT
MATC (9-10) will travel to Carthage for a nine-inning game beginning at 3 p.m. Thursday.