Box Score

ST. PAUL – The Northwestern College baseball team finished its suspended game with Martin Luther College from April 7 on Tuesday, posting a lopsided and abbreviated 15-2 win over the Knights. The Eagles entered Tuesday's portion of the game with a 6-0 lead and easily added multiple insurance runs to earn their 24th victory of the 2012 campaign.

After surrendering a run from Martin Luther in the top of the third frame, NWC posted six runs on six hits in the fifth inning. A Josh Hanson (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha Christian) double with a man on second gave the Eagles' bats a jumpstart, as Taylor Kauweloa (Kailua, Hawaii/Damien Memorial) scored. Shortly thereafter, Cody Kielsa (Howard Lake, Minn./Rogers) tripled to left center field with the sophomore's wheels churning hard around second base as Monte Abeler (Upsala, Minn./Upsala) crossed home plate. Kauweloa, up for the second time in the inning, then singled to left field for an RBI, bringing home Cody Durkee (Wilton, N.D./Wilton).

Owning a 12-1 lead, the Eagles kept at it, scoring three more runs in the sixth. With the bases loaded, Zach Markwith (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Louis) hit a two-RBI single that scored Mark Meredith (Robbinsdale, Minn./Armstrong) and Abeler. Drew Stein (Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial) then picked up an RBI in a pinch hitting opportunity, singling home Kielsa.

Counting Tyler Campion (Robbinsdale, Minn./Maranatha Christian), who put two innings of work in on the mound on April 7, the Eagles used four pitchers in the contest. Josh Balzer (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) was the first NWC player to pitch on Tuesday, getting two innings in before Meredith threw for two more. Markwith pitched the final seventh inning.

Meredith had the defensive highlight of the day as he gunned down a tagging Jacob Ziel, who was running home after the catch on what would have been Aaron Stokke's sacrifice fly. Instead, Markwith threw a strike to Abeler from right field to the plate for the third out of the top half of the third inning.

Balzer earned the win since Campion did not complete five innings of work while Martin Luther's Eric Mielke was credited with the loss despite not throwing under Tuesday's mostly sunny skies, as compared to the chilly and wet conditions that were presented the Saturday before Easter.

At the plate, Kielsa finished 1-3 with an RBI and three runs scored while Kauweloa went 3-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Abeler also scored three times in the game to go with two hits in three at-bats.

Now 24-11, Northwestern faces the task of hosting the College of St. Scholastica for a three-game UMAC series on Friday and Saturday. The Eagles, who are 15-3 in conference play, would need to sweep the Saints, who have yet to lose a UMAC contest, to earn a share of the league's regular season title. NWC's first chance will come on Friday with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. at Reynolds Field.