The University of Northwestern Eagles lost to the University of Wisconsin-Superior 6-3 on Friday night at Wade Stadium in Duluth.  The #4 seeded Superior advances to the championship against the #2 seeded Bethany Lutheran College Vikings on Saturday.

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second as Chad Wakabayashi (Waipahu, Hawaii/Hanalani) doubled to lead off the inning.  Guerin Szafraniec (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) singled to right to drive him home and Northwestern threatened for more but were unable to capitalize.  Superior got their first hit in the top of the fourth as Corey Albertson, the reigning conference player of the year, singled to left.  He later scored and Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) left runners stranded on second and third.

Szafraniec had a two-out triple in the bottom of the fourth but he was one of nine Eagles left on base.  Superior had three straight hits with one out in the top of the sixth but Morrell left them stranded.  Northwestern took the 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth as Chad Wakabayashi (Waipahu, Hawaii/Hanalani) reached on a fielder's choice and then stole second.  Bradley Spencer (Papillion, Neb./Papillion South) drew a walk to make it first and second and then Wakabayashi scored on a Caleb Piersma (Pella, Iowa/Pella) single to left.  Superior recorded three more hits in the top of the seventh, but once again failed to capitalize.  

In the bottom of the seventh, Northwestern added a third run as Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) led off with an infield single and then scored on an error to extend the Eagles lead.  Superior added one run in the top of the eighth to make it a one-run ballgame but Bradley Spencer (Papillion, Neb./Papillion South) was able to strand the tying run on second base.  In the ninth, the Yellow Jackets added four runs on three hits to take the 6-3 lead.  Northwestern went down in order to end the game.

The Eagles recorded nine hits as Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) and Guerin Szafraniec (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) both recorded two.  Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School), Carlton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls), Aaron Krahn (Roseau, Minn./Roseau), Chad Wakabayashi (Waipahu, Hawaii/Hanalani), and Caleb Piersma (Pella, Iowa/Pella) all tallied one hit.  Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) got the start for Northwestern and he scattered 10 hits in his 7.1 innings of work.  He gave up two earned runs and struck out six.  Bradley Spencer (Papillion, Neb./Papillion South) came in looking for his record-extending tenth save but he gave up four runs in the top of the ninth before Payton Brown (Elk River, Minn./PACT Charter) came in to get the final out of the frame.  

Northwestern concludes their season with a 26-17 record which is tied for the second most number of wins in school history.  Bradley Spencer (Papillion, Neb./Papillion South) also wrote his name into the school record books as he set the single-season saves record with nine (as well as finishing tied for fifth in all of D3 baseball).  Philip Wall (Juneau, Alaska/IDEA) (.333), Carlton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) (.327), and Chad Wakabayashi (Waipahu, Hawaii/Hanalani) (.304) all hit over .300 on the season and Philip Wall (Juneau, Alaska/IDEA) (2.80), Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Home School) (3.88), Sam Ludzack (Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee) (3.88), and Quinton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) (4.98) all finished in the top 12 in ERA in the conference.  Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) was the only qualified UMAC fielder (minimum 44 chances) to not record an error over the course of the season.