Box Score

ST. PAUL -- An ugly day weather-wise turned into an ugly day on the baseball field for Northwestern College as the Eagles got stung by Hamline University at Reynolds Field. NWC was only able to muster three hits in a 15-1 lopsided loss.

Hamline scored in all but two of the nine innings that were played and most of them were multi-run innings. The Pipers wasted no time putting runs on the board, starting the game with a four-run first inning that included two hits and two errors for Northwestern on defense. The Eagles scored their lone run of the game in the bottom of the fourth, when Mike Sharp (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) (Maple Grove, Minn./Maple Grove) scored on an RBI single up the middle from Josh Markwith (Honolulu, HI/Kalani) (Honolulu, Hawaii/Kalani). The run put a dent in Hamline's 7-0 lead, but the visitors responded with a three-run fifth inning, and the advantage was up to 10-1 with four innings to play.

The final hit count was 20-3 in Hamline's favor as the MIAC's second-best team struck out 11 Northwestern batters.

Three different NWC pitchers took a stab at the Hamline bats. Josh Balzer (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) got the nod to start the game from the pitcher's mound, hurling five innings. Of the 10 runs Balzer gave up, only three of them were earned, much in part to the Eagles' five errors throughout the game. Josh Englund (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) (Lakeville, Minn./North) threw the sixth through eighth innings, yielding two earned runs before Andrew Tennyson (Kenosha, Wis./Christian Life) (Kenosha, Wis./Christian Life) threw in the ninth frame, allowing two more runs.

Northwestern, now 14-17 overall, will try to regroup before playing another top team from the MIAC in Macalester College on Tuesday afternoon. The first pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Reynolds Field.