ASHWAUBENON, Wis. -- The Lawrence University baseball team jumped out to an early lead Friday and closed the door late in a 6-4 nonconference win over Marian University at Capital Credit Union Park.
    The Vikings led 5-2 after four innings, and held Marian scoreless over the final three frames to collect the victory. It was the first win for Lawrence interim head coach Trent Whitcomb.
    Tate Hartlaub and Ben Gutowski both went 3-for-5, and Taylor Freeman and Nathan Depew collected two hits apiece to pace the Lawrence offense. 
    Lawrence (1-3) got a quality start from Elden Santana, who allowed two runs and four hits over five innings. He struck out eight and walked two on his way to collecting his first win of the season. 
    The Vikings trailed 2-0 heading to the top of the third and grabbed the lead for good in that inning. Rookie Shane Santaga started the winning with a single, and Hartlaub's one-out infield single put runners at the corners. Freeman singled to right to score Santaga. An error on Edan Perez's grounder allowed Hartlaub to score and tie the game at 2-2. CJ Filipek followed with a single to score Freeman and Lawrence led 3-2.
    The Vikings tacked on two more runs in the fourth. Sage Beebe-Jenny was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and an error in the outfield on Santaga's fly ball allowed Beebe-Jenny to score. Freeman then delivered a two-out single to score Santaga for a 5-2 advantage. 
    Lawrence tacked on a run in the top of the sixth when Perez doubled to score Nathan Depew, who had started the inning with a single. 
    Marian (4-5) rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth to trim the lead to 6-4, but that is all the Sabres would get against reliever Max Huddleston. Huddleston worked a scoreless seventh before turning the ball over to Cam Ruth, who worked around a pair of hits to record a scoreless eighth.
    Shane Foley came on in the ninth and gave up a lead-off single. He retired the next three batters in order to pick up his first save of the season.
    Lawrence returns to action on Saturday when the Vikings travel to North Park University for a nonconference doubleheader.