ST. PAUL - The Northwestern Eagles (12-15, 7-3) baseball team continued to play great baseball as they swept Crown College (3-16, 0-8) on Wednesday evening. They won game one 8-2 before winning game two 9-4.
Game One
The Eagles jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after
Aaron Krahn (Roseau, Minn./Roseau) doubled and then scored when
Carter Michaelson (South St. Paul, Minn./South St. Paul) reached via an error. They added two more runs in the bottom of the third when Krahn hit a sacrifice fly to score
Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool), and then
Nathan Ehnstrom (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) singled home
Caleb Piersma (Pella, Iowa/Pella).
In the bottom of the sixth, with the score 3-2, the Northwestern jumped ahead with a big two-run inning. The Eagles scored two unearned runs in the inning as Ehnstrom scored and
Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) singled home
Chad Wakabayashi (Waipahu,HI/Hanalani). The Eagles added three more in the bottom of the seventh after
Aaron Krahn (Roseau, Minn./Roseau) led off with a triple and then
Nathan Ehnstrom (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) and
Carlton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) both contributed RBI doubles to round out the scoring.
Philip Wall (Juneau, AK./IDEA) (5-0) pitched a complete game for Northwestern and gave up six hits and two runs, one earned while walking one and striking out three. The Eagles bats came alive as Morrell, Piersma, Krahn, and Ehnstrom all reached base twice in the game.
Game Two
The Eagles also took the lead early in game two as they scored twice in the bottom of the second.
Bradley Spencer (Papillion, NE/Papillion South) got the two-out rally started with a base hit, and then
Cedric Cavazos (Chicago, Ill./Buffalo Grove) singled.
Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) then reached on an error to load the bases, and
Caleb Piersma (Pella, Iowa/Pella) got a two-run single back up the middle to give the Eagles the early lead.
Crown responded quickly though with two runs of their own in the top of the third and another in the top of the fourth, but Northwestern scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth to re-take the lead. Ehnstrom, Michaelson, Simonson, and Lindow all scored as Lindow had two RBIs and Spencer had the third.
The Eagles added their seventh run in the sixth as
Andrew Simonson (Lakeland, Minn./Eastridge) singled home
Carter Michaelson (South St. Paul, Minn./South St. Paul) and added their final two in the bottom of the eighth as Krahn and Ehnstrom scored.
Nathan Ehnstrom (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) (3-3) got the win and pitched seven strong innings as he scattered nine hits, gave up three earned runs, walked one and struck out nine.
Nick Fladager (Eagan, Minn./Eagan) threw the last two and got the save as he struck out three and gave up no hits.
The Eagles next game will be on Sunday at Reynolds Field against Martin Luther with first pitch scheduled for 1:30 pm.