ST. PAUL – The University of Northwestern Eagles (11-15, 1-1 UMAC)) bounced back in a big way on Friday morning against Crown College (12-8, 3-1 UMAC), winning the game 26-4 in seven innings. The game was played at Reynolds Field, but the Eagles were the road team because the game was scheduled to be played at Crown.
On Wednesday night, the Eagles had jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, but then the game was postponed due to rain. Play was resumed on Friday morning with
Max Barthel (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) on first base and with only one out in the inning.
The Eagles added two more runs in the second inning to make it 7-2, but then put up a seven spot in the fourth inning.
Ryan Sutterer (Anoka, Minn./Anoka ) hit a grand slam after the Eagles had strung together four hits and had drawn three walks.
Northwestern scored 10 more runs in the top of the sixth including home runs from
Aaron Krahn (Roseau, Minn./Roseau) and
Brett Reinhart (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) . Krahn hit his first collegiate home run via an absolute laser over the left field fence that plated three runs. Reinhart added two more on his home run to dead centerfield. The Eagles took advantage of three Crown errors in the inning and had three hits and drew five walks.
The Eagles added two more runs in the top of the seventh inning after a brief rain delay.
Andrew Cunliffe (Leopolis, Wis./Marion High School) walked and then
Nick Pilz (Stacy, Minn./North Branch) got his first career hit with a triple to left center field.
Corban Halbur (Richfield, Minn./Richfield) then walked and
Cedric Cavazos (Chicago, Ill./Buffalo Grove) scored Pilz with a single to right.
On the day, Northwestern had 17 hits and drew 12 walks to score the 26 runs. Every starter reached base at least once and
Cedric Cavazos (Chicago, Ill./Buffalo Grove) and
Braxton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) both had seven plate appearances.
Braxton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls),
Ryan Sutterer (Anoka, Minn./Anoka ) and
Brett Reinhart (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian) scored four runs a piece.
Nathan Ehnstrom (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) got the victory after throwing five innings, while only giving up four hits.
Carter Michaelson (South St. Paul, Minn./South St. Paul) and
Nick Fladager (Eagan, Minn. /Eagan) completed the game and they combined to limit Crown to five hits.
Micah Williams (Gulfport, Miss. /Christian Collegiate Academy) got the start, but because of the postponement, he never threw a pitch.
The Eagles next game will be against North Central University – the contest was postponed to Monday due to the impending thunderstorms on Saturday. First pitch of game one will be at 10 a.m. at Reynolds Field.
