Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

University of Northwestern Athletics

The Official Website of the University of Northwestern Eagles

Slideshow

bb

Baseball

Halstensgard breaks single season hits record as Eagles advance in UMAC Tournament

St. Scholastica-Northwestern Game Stats
Presentation-Northwestern Game Stats

DULUTH, Minn. – The Northwestern College baseball team advanced to Day 2 of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Postseason Tournament after defeating third-seeded Presentation College 8-5 on Thursday afternoon. Earlier in the day, No. 3 Northwestern fell to the tournament's top seed and the eighth-best team in NCAA Division III in the College of St. Scholastica by a score of 12-2.

After Presentation and NWC each scored a run in the first inning , the Eagles blew up for five runs in the second inning. After leadoff singles by Zach Holsman (Hill City, Minn./Hill City) (Hill City, Minn.) and Mike Strickland (Plymouth, Minn./Armstrong) (Plymouth, Minn./Armstrong), Tyler Sage (Duncanville, Texas/Ovilla Christian) (Duncanville, Texas/Olivia Christian) put down a bunt single to score Holsman while Strickland also scored on the catcher's throw to first. Dan Halstensgard (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony) (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony) followed with an RBI single to right center before Erik Dahl (Robbinsdale, Minn./Armstrong) (Robbinsdale, Minn./Armstrong) doubled to score Halstensgard. Kyle Mick (Maplewood, Minn./Concordia Academy) (Maplewood, Minn./Concordia) singled through the right side for Northwestern's sixth hit of the inning, scoring Dahl.

Presentation scrounged a run in the bottom of the second inning before adding three more in the fifth and sixth, edging closer to the Eagles' 6-5 lead. Northwestern squashed the Saints' hopes of staying in the tournament, scoring a run in each of the seventh and eighth innings to preserve the 8-5 win.

Mark Halstensgard (St. Anthony, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) (St. Anthony, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) started the game for NWC on the pitcher's mound, allowing eight hits over five innings. Andrew Stokes (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) hurled the final four innings, giving up two runs to record the hold.

After tallying a hit in the St. Scholastica game, Dan Halstensgard (St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony) broke Northwestern's single season hits record with two more versus Presentation, surpassing Jake Dodge's mark of 61 hits in 1998 to take first place at 63. Halstensgard isn't alone in the hunt for setting a new record though, as teammate Ryan Nelson (Stillwater, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) (Stillwater, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) stands at 61 hits on the season. Nelson went 0-5 at the plate on the day.

Earlier versus St. Scholastica, Northwestern fell to the conference champions 12-2 after being outhit 13-8. The Saints from Duluth started the game's scoring with five runs in the third inning, capitalizing on back-to-back leadoff walks to go with four hits.

Northwestern scored one run in each of the fourth and fifth innings. Holsman crossed the plate on an error in the fourth, while Nelson reached on a fielder's choice in the fifth to score Ryan Long (Dassel, Minn./Dassel-Cokato) (Dassel, Minn./Dassel-Cokato).

St. Scholastica scored three runs in both the fifth and seventh innings to put a 10-run rule in effect, therefore ending the game at 12-2 after seven frames.

Nelson struck out six batters in four and two-thirds innings of work before yielding the mound to Scott Swanson (Maple Grove, Minn./West Lutheran) (Maple Plain, Minn./West Lutheran). Swanson threw one and one-thirds innings, yielding three hits before Paul Foster (Andover, Minn./St. Francis) (Andover, Minn./St. Francis) threw in the seventh inning.

Northwestern (18-23 overall) will play St. Scholastica again on Friday at 1 p.m. after the Saints were edged by Bethany Lutheran College in extra innings on Thursday night. The winner will take on Bethany Lutheran at 4 p.m. for the championship game.
Print Friendly Version