APPLETON, Wis. -- The pitchers were firing bullets on Saturday at Whiting Field, but Taylor Freeman capped the day with a titanic blast.
    It was a classic pitchers' duel going into the bottom of the ninth before Freeman belted a three-run homer to give the Lawrence University baseball team a 3-0 Midwest Conference victory over Illinois College.
    The homer made a winner out of Lawrence starter Quinn Berglin, who put together his second consecutive masterful start. Berglin allowed just four hits, all singles, and just one runner to reach as far as third base. He struck out six and walked three to improve to 2-1 on the season.
    Cullen McBride was almost as good for Illinois College as he allowed four hits over eight innings, struck out eight walked three on his way to a no-decision.
    Lawrence (10-6, 5-1 MWC) had a pair of real scoring chances with the first coming in the fifth. The Vikings loaded the bases with two outs, but a groundout ended the threat. The Vikings nearly scored in the eighth when Zach Leslie reached on an error, and Jacob Charon smacked a double high off the fence in left-center field. A pair of good throws on the play got Leslie at the plate to end the inning.
    Berglin worked around a one-out single in the ninth, and Griffin King came on in relief for the Blueboys (8-14, 3-4) in the bottom half of the inning.
    King hit Edan Perez to start the frame, and Spenser Ross executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Perez to second. Pinch-hitter Luke Miles was then hit by a pitch, and that set the stage for Freeman. He hammered a King fastball over the fence in left for his third homer of the season and the walk-off win.
    Freeman went 2-for-4 with three runs batted in and was the only Lawrence player with more than one hit.
    The teams wrap up the series on Sunday with a noon doubleheader at Whiting Field.