Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

ST. PAUL -- Northwestern College swept a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader against Finlandia University, earning its 19th and 20th wins of the 2012 campaign, a first for the Eagles since the 2007. NWC combined to allow two hits in a 4-1 first game before scoring in four different innings to win Game 2 by an 8-4 score.

The Eagles' Drew Tennyson (Stuartevant, Wis./Christian Life) had his way with the Lions from the pitcher's mound, throwing five innings of one-hit baseball. Meanwhile, the Eagles went to work with a three-run first inning right off the bat. Speaking of right off the bat, Cody Kielsa (Howard Lake, Minn./Rogers) left the ballpark with a home run in Northwestern's first at-bat to give the home team an early advantage. After Zach Markwith (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Louis) doubled to right center, the junior scored on an Andy Peterson (Rogers, Minn./Rogers) RBI single, helping the Eagles jump out to a 3-0 lead.

Northwestern's fourth run of the game came in the fourth frame. With Ethan Nichols (Brainerd, Minn/Brainerd) on third after a leadoff walk, David Joseph (Kimball, Minn/Kimball) hit an RBI groundout to wrap up the Eagles' scoring. Finlandia posted its lone run of the game against Bryan McCallum (Rogers, Minn./Rogers) in the sixth before Mark Meredith (Robbinsdale, Minn./Armstrong) earned his third save of the year.

At the plate, Kielsa and Joseph each had two hits and an RBI.

Game 2 had Northwestern playing from behind for a short while as the Lions scored the first run in the second part of Wednesday's twin bill. The Eagles claimed the lead in the second inning courtesy of two Finlandia errors while Meredith picked up an RBI on a groundout. NWC combined for three runs in the third and fourth frames thanks to more Lions mistakes. Kielsa had a big hit in that spree as he caught Jon Crawford off kilter deep in center field that allowed the Eagles to score two.

A three-run sixth inning gave head coach Dave Hieb a sigh of relief as Northwestern entered the bottom portion of the frame with just a one-run gap separating the two teams. Andy Haagenson (Minneapolis, Minn./Henry Sibley) picked up an RBI on a single that scored Joseph before a Kielsa single up the middle brought home Haagenson. Markwith then pitched a scoreless seventh to secure Win No. 20 for the home team.

Connor Olson (Mahtomedi, Minn/Mahtomedi) got the nod to start the second game for NWC. The freshman went five innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits. TJ Studer (Perham, Minn/Perham) got an inning in as well. At the plate, Kielsa went 2-4 for the second time while Monte Abeler (Upsala, Minn./Upsala) scored twice despite recording just one official at-bat in the score book.

At 20-11 overall, Eagles will return to UMAC action this weekend as they head towards Lake Superior to face Northland College in Ashland, Wis. Northwestern and the LumberJacks will play a three-game series, starting with one nine-inning game on Friday at 3 p.m.