Northwestern-Bethany Lutheran Box Score
Northwestern-St. Scholastica Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Northwestern College baseball team continued its momentum from Thursday's comeback victory over Northland College with a 4-0 defeat of Bethany Lutheran College to start Friday's action at the UMAC Baseball Tournament. The third-seeded Eagles scored in two innings to send the No. 2 Vikings home and give NWC Head Coach Dave Hieb his 300th career victory.

Northwestern did its first damage in the fourth inning, starting with a Cody Kielsa (Howard Lake, Minn./Rogers) double to left center field. Kielsa advanced to third base on a Cody Durkee fly out before crossing home plate on an RBI double by (Howard Lake, Minn./Rogers)Taylor Kauweloa#. #Zack Markwith, who reached first base on a Vikings throwing error, also scored on the play.

The Eagles added their third and fourth runs of the game in the sixth as another double started the inning, this time off of Markwith's bat. Markwith crossed home plate on an RBI single down the right field line by Bryan McCallum (Rogers, Minn./Rogers) before another Bethany Lutheran error allowed McCallum to score on Andy Peterson (Rogers, Minn./Rogers)'s single up the middle.

That was more than enough for pitcher Mark Meredith (Robbinsdale, Minn./Armstrong), who went all nine innings on the hill for Northwestern. Meredith allowed just three hits, striking out five batters along the way.

In the batter's box, Kauweloa and Peterson both went 2-4 with RBIs.

Hieb's 300th victory came with the 2012 season on the line as the Eagles' campaign will end if the team loses again in the UMAC postseason. In his 17th season, Hieb is easily the Northwestern baseball program's career wins leader with the late Chub Reynolds being next in line at 148 wins.

The Eagles' second game of the day – the first of what would have been two championship games if NWC had won – will be one that Northwestern players think about for awhile. Leading 4-0 after the first inning, the Eagles committed a season-high seven errors while watching St. Scholastica score nine consecutive runs in a 9-5 loss.

NWC jumped out to an early lead, courtesy of three hits and a Saints fielding error in the first frame. With the Eagles up 1-0, Kauweloa singled through the right side to score Durkee from third base. Peterson then earned an RBI of his own to bring home Markwith before Josh Hanson (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha Christian) hit a run-scoring single.

St. Scholastica picked up a run off of Northwestern in the bottom half of the inning, starting with back-to-back singles before a Kyle Flagstad sacrifice fly put the home team on the board. By the third inning, the game was tied after a dismal five errors, four of which were from the infield, by the Eagles combined with two hits.

Markwith did his best to remain consistent from the pitcher's mound as the Purple and Gold had a depleted pitching staff after three nine inning games. With both Peterson and Cory Larson (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) out due to injuries, Markwith sat down the Saints 1-2-3 in the fourth before a no-hit fifth inning still brought in a St. Scholastica run due to another defensive mistake by the Eagles. The Saints started to pick up Markwith's pitches in the sixth as the 15-time UMAC Tournament Champions rallied for four hits and three runs.

After the four-run first frame, Northwestern's only additional run of the game came in the ninth inning. Kielsa, who hit an infield hit in what would be his last at-bat of the 2012 season, advanced to second and third from the bats of his teammates before scoring on a wild pitch.

Markwith and Andy Haagenson (Minneapolis, Minn./Henry Sibley) each had two hits in the game with the latter going 2-2. On the hill, Markwith went eight innings, allowing six earned runs on 10 hits. The junior didn't give up any bases on balls to the Saints while nearly doubling his season's mark of innings pitched.

Northwestern concludes its campaign with a 26-16 overall record, a 12-game improvement from 2011, while finishing 15-6 in UMAC play.