APPLETON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University baseball team pulled out to an early lead Saturday, held off a Cornell College challenge and pulled away late for an 8-4 Midwest Conference victory at Whiting Field.
    Lawrence took two of three from the Rams to win the series.
    Edan Perez continued to swing a hot bat as he went 4-for-5 with a triple, scored one run and drove in three for the Vikings (7-12, 3-5 MWC). Lawrence's Mitchell Sandleback went 2-for-4 with a homer and a double, scored twice and drove in two runs.
    Parker Knoll went 2-for-4, scored twice and drove in a run for the Vikings, and Taylor Freeman was 2-for-4 with a double. 
    Elden Santana was outstanding in his start but was forced to leave the game in the fifth. He allowed one hit over 4.1 innings, struck out seven and walked one. Jake Watkins got his first collegiate victory with one inning of relief work.
    Lawrence was up 1-0 in the second when Sandleback belted a solo homer, and the Vikings stretched the lead with three runs in the fourth. Perez and Jacob Charon both had run-scoring singles as Lawrence moved out to a 5-0 lead.
    Cornell (11-9, 3-4) got two runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh to trim the advantage to 5-4. 
    Lawrence pulled away with three more runs in the eighth as Sandleback smacked a run-scoring double. Knoll then had an RBI single, and Perez followed with a run-scoring triple to complete the scoring.
    Jordan Schaefer then worked a perfect ninth to finish out the win.