Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

ST. PAUL -- The Northwestern College baseball team eclipsed its season win total from the 2011 campaign on Saturday, improving to 16-9 overall and 10-1 in UMAC play with a pair of victories over the University of Minnesota Morris. The 4-2 and 7-6 wins gave the Eagles their seventh and eighth consecutive victories and a series sweep over the Cougars.

Game 1 was much like Friday's 3-2 final with runs coming at a premium. Morris opened the game with a run in the first inning, taking advantage of Eric Terres' leadoff single. The Cougars improved their lead to 2-0 in the top of the second, taking advantage of a two-out single by Nick Perrotte that scored Neil Arvold after an Eagles fielding error.

Northwestern responded with a two-out run of its own in the bottom half of the second frame when Mark Meredith (Robbinsdale, Minn./Armstrong) singled to center field to score David Joseph (Kimball, Minn/Kimball). NWC then posted a two-spot in the third. With two runners on base, Zach Markwith (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Louis) hit a sacrifice fly to score Cody Kielsa (Howard Lake, Minn./Rogers) before a Taylor Kauweloa (Kailua, Hawaii/Damien Memorial) sacrifice brought in Cody Durkee (Wilton, N.D./Wilton).

Owning a 3-2 lead, the Eagles added an insurance run for pitcher Tyler Campion (Robbinsdale, Minn./Maranatha Christian) in the fourth as an Andy Haagenson (Minneapolis, Minn./Henry Sibley) single through the left side scored Meredith from second base.

Campion went all seven innings for Northwestern, allowing seven Cougars hits and just one earned run. The senior struck out seven of the 32 batters he faced. At the plate, Meredith went 2-3 while Haagenson finished 1-2 with an RBI.

Morris gave Northwestern a bit of a cushion in the early goings of Game 2, and the Eagles ended up needing that buffer down the stretch. Cougars pitcher Logan Orazem struggled to find the strike zone as NWC scored all seven of its runs for the game on just one hit in while walking five times, not to mention three hit batters.  Markwith had the lone hit of the frame on a single through the right side before scoring on a Monte Abeler (Upsala, Minn./Upsala) base on balls.

The Cougars had scored a run in the first inning and added three more in the fifth to put the pressure on Andy Peterson (Rogers, Minn./Rogers), the Eagles' starting pitcher. At one point in the frame, Morris strung together five straight hits on the hard-throwing Peterson, whose fastball topped out at 89 miles-per-hour on the speed gun. The Cougars gave the sophomore additional adversity to fight through in the sixth inning when three hits and a Northwestern error allowed two more runs to score, bringing the visitors within one of tying the game. Peterson finished the game with a one-two-three seventh inning to preserve the 7-6 victory.

The sophomore finished with four earned runs and six strikeouts while allowing 11 Morris hits, which turned out to be five more than NWC for the game. In the batter's box, Durkee went 2-2 with two RBI and a run scored while Abeler also had a 2-2 game with an RBI and a run.

Northwestern will take Sunday off before hitting the practice field again on Monday in preparation for a nonconference game at Bethel University on Tuesday afternoon before the Eagles play a three-game UMAC series against Bethany Lutheran in Mankato, Minn. next weekend. Tuesday's game in Arden Hills is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.