ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern's baseball team [15-23, 5-9 UMAC] split with Martin Luther College [7-25, 3-13 UMAC] Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Field. The Eagles came up short to the Knights in game one with a final score of 16-0, but then rebounded to a victorious 14-2 win in game two. Before the day's contests began, UNW recognized and honored its seven outstanding seniors.
GAME ONE
MLC jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Then, the visiting team quickly added two more runs in the third and two more in the sixth. In the eighth, Martin Luther was able to tack on 11 more runs to capture a 16-0 win over Northwestern.
The Eagles offense was held in check throughout the game, generating only six hits. Senior
Braxton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls), Senior
Tyler Osborn (Clive, Iowa/Des Moines Christian), Junior
Brett Reinhart (Chanhassen, Minn./Southwest Christian), and Sophomore
Aaron Krahn (Roseau, Minn./Roseau) contributed one a piece, while Freshman
Carter Michaelson (South St. Paul, Minn./South St. Paul) noted two.
Lindow took the mound for his first career-varsity start, pitched seven innings for UNW, respectively.
GAME TWO
The second contest on the afternoon started very differently than the first. Osborn managed to get his second hit of the day, moving within three from re-writing Northwestern's all-time hits record.
Senior
Ryan Sutterer (Anoka, Minn./Anoka ) batted his way to a single, as Reinhart followed suit with a double. Junior
Nathan Ehnstrom (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) was able to single home Reinhart, closing out the first inning, to allow the Eagles to front a quick 3-0 lead.
In the next inning, Senior
Andrew Cunliffe (Leopolis, Wis./Marion High School) took on his first career-varsity start, leading off with a double for the Eagles. Cunliffe hit a ringing dual off the centerfield fence, and then he and Junior
Christian Halbur (Richfield, Minn./Homeschool) scored on
Braxton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls)'s triple to help boost a 5-0 lead over MLC. Osborn then sent Lindow home on a groundout, and Sutterer knocked the Knight's starter out with a solo home run, to raise the score 7-0 still in the UNW's favor.
By the close of the fourth, the Eagles added three more runs, stretching a 10-0 lead. Lindow produced a single and scored after Krahn reached with the bases loaded via an error. Moments later, Freshman
Max Barthel (Farmington, Minn./Farmington) struck out, but the pitch snuck past the catcher to bring home Osborn as everyone else remained safe. Then, Northwestern added it's third run via a second wild pitch.
UNW added three more tallies to the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth. Halbur walked to start the inning, and then
Braxton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) followed with another single. Halbur scored by an Osborn sac fly, as Reinhart singled home Lindow and Sutterer. Wrapping up the inning, the Eagles held a 13-0 lead over the Knights.
Holding the visiting team to yet another scoreless inning, UNW scored one lone run [14-0] after Barthel was singled home by Halbur.
MLC secured their only two runs on the game at the top of the seven, but it was the UNW who soared to success, sealing a 14-2 win on the afternoon contest.
Freshman pitcher
Nick Fladager (Eagan, Minn. /Eagan) came in to finish the game, getting the last two outs for the Eagles. Michaelson gave up only three hits over his six innings of work and surrender no runs.
Due to the day's split, the Eagles were officially eliminated from the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference [UMAC] tournament contention after Northland College defeated the University of Minnesota-Morris.
The purple and gold will play their final double-header of the 2017 season tomorrow at University of Wisconsin-Superior. First pitch of game one is slated for 1:30 pm. For more information on the baseball program, fans can visit
www.unweagles.com.
