Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Dominican University baseball team split a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) doubleheader with the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors on Friday afternoon, securing a spot in the 2014 NACC Baseball Tournament with a 7-5 victory in game one.
 
The Stars, now 21-16 on the season, will head to Mequon, Wisconsin, next Thursday for the NACC Tournament, just the third time in program history the Stars have qualified for a conference postseason tournament.  The tournament is slated to open play on May 8^th at Kapco Park on the campus of Concordia University Wisconsin.  The tournament schedule is still to be determined with the conclusion of NACC regular season play slated for Saturday.
 
Game One: Dominican 7, Wisconsin Lutheran 5
 
Mitch McCaffery (Johnson Creek, Wis.) tossed his conference-best seventh complete-game, as he picked up the win on the mound for the Stars.  McCaffery scattered 12 hits as he was charged with five runs while striking out two.
 
Offensively, the Stars staked McCaffery to a 3-0 lead before he even took to the mound.  Cody Schuster (Las Vegas, Nev.) roped an RBI single up the middle to score Quinlan Milne Rojek (Minneapolis, Minn.) who started the first with a one-out single.  After a fielder's choice, a Wisconsin Lutheran error allowed Joe Krasny (Berwyn, Ill.) to score.  The Stars then added a run as Joe Lyons (Chicago Ridge, Ill.) singled to score Quentin Becquey (St. Julien Le Faucon, France).
 
Dominican tacked on another run in the top of the fourth when Schuster doubled down the left field line to score Tim Varallo (Chicago, Ill.) who singled to start the frame.
 
In the sixth, Varallo delivered with a two run single, scoring Lyons and Thomas Smith (Lockport, Ill.) as the Stars opened a 6-0 lead.
 
Wisconsin Lutheran finally got to McCaffery in the bottom of the sixth, stringing together four hits, including a run-scoring double by Zack Skogg, and a sacrifice fly.  McCaffery was able to strand Skog at second, getting Ryan Stancl swinging before ending the inning with a flyout to right.
 
The Stars got one run back in the eighth when Krasny picked up a two-out RBI with a single to center to score Kevin Schwer (Evergreen Park, Ill.).
 
The Warriors pushed across to runs in the bottom of the eighth on back-to-back doubles by Josiah Boucher and Jake Klemme to pull within 7-5 but McCaffery pitched around a one-out error in the ninth to seal the victory.
 
Schuster went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI in the winning effort while Lyons added four hits and RBI and a run scored.
 
Game Two:  Wisconsin Lutheran 4, Dominican 3
 
The Warriors chased starting pitcher Cody Mueller (Addison, Ill.) from the game with two outs in the second after roughing up Mueller for three runs in the first and another in the bottom of the second.  Ryan Kukla (Chicago, Ill.) and Chance Emlund (Chicago, Ill.) combined to throw six-plus shutout innings the rest of the way, but the Dominican offense couldn't erase the deficit.
 
Schuster picked up another RBI, his team-best 29^th of the season, on a sacrifice fly in the top of the first but the Stars managed just two runs the rest of the way with Garrick Day retiring the final 18 hitters he faced after giving up two runs in the fourth.
 
Milne Rojek went 2-for-4 with a double as the Stars picked up six hits in the losing effort.