St. Paul, Minn. –– The University of Northwestern baseball team (23-8, 11-1 UMAC) swept Bethany Lutheran College (7-13, 5-4 UMAC) in a battle between two of the top teams in the UMAC. The Vikings were the pre-season favorites to win the conference, but it was Northwestern who stole the show. The Eagles won game one 12-1 (F/7) and game two 3-1 as they ran their conference winning streak up to eight to continue to hold tight to the number one seed.
Game One
Owen Boerema (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) (4-0) got the start on the mound for the Eagles, and he continued his impeccable run. Coming off of his best season on the hardwood with the basketball team, the sophomore has carried that success onto the mound. His biggest threat came in the first inning when the Vikings loaded the bases, but Boerema struck out the side to strand the runners. He recorded his first six outs via punchout and eight of the first nine.
Northwestern's offense exploded early to give Boerema plenty of cushion. Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) and Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) were hit by pitches to lead off the frame, and Mason Skrede (Viroqua, Wis./Viroqua) made the Vikings pay with a three-run home run that rocketed over the left-center field fence.
The wheels fell off for the Vikings' pitching staff in the third as Northwestern scored seven runs on five hits. Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) led off with a nine-pitch walk, and he advanced to third on an error on an attempted pick-off. Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) brought him home with an RBI single, and Skrede traded places with the freshman on an RBI double to left-center. Carlton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) followed with a single, and all three runners scored on Guerin Szafraniec's (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) line-drive home run to right. Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) followed with another walk, and Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) hit a towering fly ball to right-center field that carried over the fence to extend the lead to 10-0 with only six hits in three innings (three of them being long balls).
After a 1-2-3 inning from Boerema, Severson and Skrede were hit by pitches as the Eagles were hit six times in game one. Szafraniec brought both runners home with a double off the wall in right-center, and Northwestern continued to pound the ball with clutch hits. Bethany Lutheran got one run in the top of the fifth, but that was all the offense they could muster.
Boerema struck out thirteen Vikings in six innings of work. He scattered five hits, walked two, and surrendered the one run. In his last 24 innings, over three conference starts, the sophomore has struck out 36 batters and only given up 12 hits and one earned run. Nicholas Drinken (Randolph, Minn. /Randolph) came in to work the seventh and threw a scoreless inning. Szafraniec and Skrede helped spark the offensive outburst as both men had two hits with five and four RBIs, respectively.
Game Two
More dominant pitching, this time by Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) (6-3), carried Northwestern to another victory. He threw a complete game and only surrendered one unearned run while striking out six. All of the bounces went Northwestern's way tonight, and the top of the first in game two proved that. Ross Beumer, one of the top hitters in the conference over the past four years, hit a rocket on the first pitch that grazed Mason Skrede's (Viroqua, Wis./Viroqua) glove and bounced right to Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) at second, who threw out the Viking as the Eagles took what appeared to be a sure hit away. Then, after a single, Jake LaBerge crushed a line drive right back up the middle. It hit Crabb in the back and deflected right to Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin), who made the catch and doubled the runner off of first. Northwestern took advantage of the series of fortuitous events and took the lead in the bottom half of the frame. Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) led off with a double off the wall in left-center, and he came around to score on Sam Peterson's (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) two-out single.
Bethany got their only run of the game in the top of the second to immediately tie the game. In the bottom of the fourth, though, Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) hit a triple to right-center. Bethany Lutheran's second baseman throw hit Morrell's arm on his slide, and the senior was able to scamper home with a little league home run. That ended up proving to be the winning run in the one-hour and forty-minute contest.
After a leadoff double in the top of the fourth, Crabb retired 12 straight Vikings. The next man to reach was a leadoff single in the top of the eighth. As Crabb shut down BLC's offense, Northwestern added a crucial insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) reached on an error to open the frame, and he stole his second base of the doubleheader. Crabb helped himself with a double over the center fielder's head to score Simonson, which made it 3-1. After the leadoff single in the eighth, Crabb retired the next six, three via strikeout, to shut the door.
Northwestern only recorded five hits in game two, but they were very clutch hits when they came.
Up Next
Northwestern travels to Northland College on Saturday, May 1st. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 1:30 pm in Ashland, Wisconsin.
Follow Northwestern baseball online at www.unweagles.com or on Twitter @unwbaseball.
