DULUTH, Minn. – The University of Northwestern's 2015 baseball season came to a close sooner than expected as the Eagles lost to Bethany Lutheran College 13-6 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament elimination game. UNW finishes its season with a 21-21 overall record.

Trailing 6-2, Northwestern scored four runs to match the Vikings in the fourth inning, but Eagle pitchers Troy Nelson (Buena Park, Calif. /Buena Park) and Erik Nyquist (Elk River, Minn./Pine Island) couldn't solve Bethany Lutheran's hitters down the stretch in what turned out to be a 16-hit day for the fourth-seeded team. UNW countered with 10 hits in the game, but Northwestern couldn't score a run after the four-run fourth. The Eagles once again missed opportunities with runners on base, matching Thursday's total of 10 stranded throughout the nine-inning affair.

Bethany kicked things off with a four-run third inning, taking advantage of four hits to go with a pair of Eagles errors. Northwestern answered with two scores in the bottom half of the frame, using a Tyler Osborn (Clive, Iowa/Des Moines Christian) double and a defensive gaffe by the Vikings to get on the board.

The Vikings fired back with more runs in the top of the fourth, again taking advantage of mistakes in the field by Northwestern to lead 6-2. Fortunately for the Eagles, UNW had the bases loaded in its next at-bat and took advantage of it despite there being two outs. Taylor McMurry started the spree with an RBI single up the middle before Osborn's second double of the day – down the left field line – cleared the bases to knot the score at 4-4.

A one-out triple in the fifth frame gave Bethany Lutheran life again, scoring two runs in the process to put the Vikings back in front. That would be it for Nelson on the mound, but BLC snuck another run across on a sacrifice bunt off Nyquist before the end of the inning. Like Nelson, Nyquist struggled with control in the sixth, hitting a batter with one Bethany Lutheran runner already on base. A Brandyn Olsen double to left scored Nick Caldeen, and the gap on the scoreboard increased to 10-6.

Lucas Herd's three-RBI triple in the eighth did the Eagles in, as the then-seven run deficit was too difficult to overcome, especially with UNW having left zeros on the board in the sixth, seventh, and eighth frames. Brock Peterson (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls)'s  ninth inning base on balls off of winning pitcher Cody Leitner was all Northwestern had for momentum before the Eagles' book closed on 2015.

Braxton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls), McMurray, and Osborn all collected two hits on the day, with Osborn finishing with four RBI. The second-year Northwestern player wrapped up his season with a team-best .368 batting average and a .669 slugging rate, numbers that compete for some of the program's best marks in recebt years.

Northwestern will have to say goodbye to departing seniors McMurray, pitcher Connor Olson (Mahtomedi, Minn/Mahtomedi) and Matt Doss (Pillager, Minn./Pillager), all of whom have been consistent starters in head coach Dave Hieb's lineup in 2015.