DULUTH, Minn. – A late-game rally fell short as Northwestern College lost to the College of St. Scholastica 6-4 in the second round of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament at Wade Stadium on Friday night. The loss puts the Eagles in the loser's bracket where they'll face Martin Luther College at 1 p.m. on Saturday for the right to face St. Scholastica again.

Box Score

Neither team in Friday's nightcap had the big inning that it did in the initial two games of the day. Northwestern used a five-run eighth frame to beat Bethany Lutheran in the 10 a.m. contest before St. Scholastica posted matching four-run third and fourth innings in the Saints' 10-0 victory over Martin Luther at 1 p.m. St. Scholastica scored first against the Eagles, building a 3-0 advantage with a run in the second inning and one more in the third.

In the second, the Saints used consecutive singles to start the inning to score on Northwestern starter Josh Balzer (Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View). A couple extra-base hits boosted St. Scholastica's run total in the third frame as Kyle Flagstad's one-out triple brought home Austin Colvard before Flagstad scored on an RBI groundout from the next batter.

Northwestern's first runs came in the fifth. Andy Haagenson (Minneapolis, Minn./Henry Sibley), who started at shortstop, earned an RBI as his single down the right field line scored Andy Peterson (Rogers, Minn./Rogers). Lance Lebaron (Anoka, Minn./Anoka) then reached base courtesy of a Saints fielding error that allowed Aaron Rau (Woodbury, Minn./East Ridge) to advance home. While the Eagles finished their at-bat just one run away from tying the game, St. Scholastica had other plans as the Saints added two insurance runs in the bottom half of the inning. A leadoff extra-base hit haunted Balzer another time while the next two batters also safely reached base to set up what resulted in a 5-2 scoring margin as the game headed into the sixth frame.

Flagstad, who finished the game 3-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored, came closer to hitting for the cycle with a leadoff double in the seventh for the Saints that eventually pushed the lead to 6-2.

Northwestern finished with two runs in the top of the ninth but three outs came before the Eagles were allowed to meet St. Scholastica at the six-run mark. Lebaron and Zach Markwith (Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Louis) earned RBIs before NWC left the ballpark with tomorrow's 12 p.m. game in focus. A win against Martin Luther wins a second (and potentially a third) chance against the Saints in the championship (and if necessary) game(s) starting at 3 p.m., while a loss would quickly bring an end to Northwestern's 2013 season.

As was the case all day Friday, Saturday's games can be watched online at csssaints.com/ssn.