St. Paul, Minn. -– The University of Northwestern baseball team (35-12) competed twice on Monday. They accomplished their first goal by knocking off Misericordia 7-6 (F/13) to advance to the winner-take-all championship against Johns Hopkins. The Blue Jays won 3-2 to move to the College World Series in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Game One
Northwestern and Misericordia competed in one of the most insane baseball games in Reynolds Field history. The two teams battled it out as both teams matched the other, whether with zeroes or with the same number of runs in extra innings (in both the tenth and twelfth). The two teams went toe-to-toe for thirteen innings, but eventually, the Eagles came out on top.
Sam Ludzack (Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee) got the start for Northwestern, and he struggled with his command early. After walking the bases loaded, Misericordia recorded an infield single to bring a run across. Ludzack quickly settled down after the rocky first and only allowed three base runners (one walk and two hits) over the next 5.2 innings.
In the bottom of the first, Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) led off with a first-pitch double that landed just fair down the left-field line. He advanced to third on Sam Peterson's (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) groundout, but the senior right fielder was left stranded there.
In the second, Philip Wall (Juneau, Alaska/IDEA), Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool), and Eric Peterson (Coon Valley, Wis./Westby) all recorded singles to load the bases with one out before Guerin Szafraniec (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right. Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) reloaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch, but the Cougars wiggled their way out of the jam to keep the game tied.
After one hit in both the third and fourth innings, Northwestern strung a couple together in the fifth. Simonson and Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) started the inning with singles, and Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) loaded the bases with a walk. Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) did his job with a sacrifice fly to center, and Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) followed by driving in Peterson. Two runners were left in scoring position, but the Eagles had taken a 3-1 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Sam Ludzack (Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee) gave up his first two base runners since the second inning, when the Cougars got a two-out single and a walk. Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) came in to pitch on one day's rest and got a ground out to end the threat. Misericordia tied it in the top of the eighth with a two-run home run that just cleared the fence in left field.
Simonson led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, as the Eagles looked for their second walk-off win of the season. Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) sacrificed him to second, and the Cougars decided to intentionally walk Vercoe. The threat ended when Simonson was thrown out trying to steal third, and Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) struck out to end a ten-pitch battle.
The fun was just getting going, though. Misericordia drew a walk to start the tenth, and he came around to score after a sacrifice bunt moved him to second, a ground out brought him to third, and he came across the plate on a wild pitch. Crabb led off the bottom half of the frame with a single right back up the middle and then moved to second on a wild pitch. Philip Wall (Juneau, Alaska/IDEA) dropped down a bunt to move him to third, and Morrell brought him home with a sacrifice fly to right field. Mason Skrede (Viroqua, Wis./Viroqua) and Szafraniec both drew walks, but they were left stranded.
Morrell came in to pitch in the eleventh, and he recorded a 1-2-3 inning. Northwestern responded with a two-out walk, but that was all the offense for the eleventh. Both teams saved up for the twelfth, as back-to-back doubles brought home two runs for the Cougars in the top half.
In the bottom half of the frame, Northwestern made two quick outs on just four pitches. Carlton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) followed with a single back up the middle before Szafraniec dropped a double down the right-field line to put the tying run in scoring position. After a pitching change, Simonson hit a 3-2 pitch on a line through the left side of the infield. As Lindow was crossing the plate, he collided shoulders with Misericordia's catcher, allowing Szafraniec to score without a play. After a long conversation, play resumed with Simonson on second, but he was left stranded there as both teams scored twice in the twelfth.
Misericordia loaded the bases in the thirteenth thanks to two singles and a hit by pitch. With two outs, the number three hitter hit a grounder to shortstop that Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) fielded and threw off line to Wall at first. Wall very acrobatically got the tag somehow on the runner to keep the game tied and give Northwestern a chance to win the game.
In the bottom half, Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) led off with a double to right field that bounced past the right fielder allowing him to advance to third. Misericordia intentionally walked Severson and Crabb to load the bases for a force-out at the plate. Ben Spores (Arlington, Wa./Arlington) came in to pinch-hit for Wall, who was hurt on the tag in the top half, and he floated a fly ball to left to bring home Vercoe and send the Eagles to the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship Game.
Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) was 5-6 and recorded the biggest hit of the Eagles season with the two-out, two-run double to tie the game in the twelfth. Vercoe reached base four times (two hits and two walks) as the Eagles had seventeen hits and drew seven walks.
Sam Ludzack (Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee) threw the first 6.2 innings and only surrendered three hits and the one earned run from the first. Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) followed with the next 3.1 innings, and Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) threw the last three.
Game Two
After the thrilling walk-off win against Misericordia, the Eagles had less than an hour to get ready to compete for the title against Johns Hopkins with their ace, Owen Boerema (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield), back on the mound.
The Blue Jays took an early lead in the bottom of the second thanks to a one-out single and a two-out double to make it 1-0. Northwestern responded immediately in the third. Johns Hopkins's ace exited the game after two innings, and Northwestern took advantage. Lindow recorded a one-out single, and Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) reached on a fielding error by the second baseman. A throwing error on the same play allowed Lindow to move to third to put runners on the corners. Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) followed with a walk to load the bases, and Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) reached on the second baseman's third error of the inning to bring Lindow across the plate. Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) followed with a soft chopper to short, which Dai Dai Otaka, one of the top defensive shortstops in all of DIII, made a spectacular play on to keep the game tied.
The Blue Jays second baseman immediately got redemption with a solo home run into the woods in left to make it 2-1. Johns Hopkins extended it to 3-1 after taking advantage of a Northwestern error and a single to left.
Northwestern's next chances came as Simonson and Severson recorded doubles in the fifth and sixth, respectively, but they were stranded. The Blue Jays had two runners in scoring position in the sixth as well, but Boerema recorded the strikeout to end the inning.
Vercoe hit his 13th home run of the season, in the top of the eighth, which set a new single-season record. This one was a laser over the wall in right-center and cut the deficit to one. That was the final hit of the season, as the Eagles went quietly in the ninth.
Owen Boerema (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) dominated in his eight innings of work, three days after shutting down Misericordia on Friday night. He struck out seven while only allowing two earned runs in his sixth complete game of the season.
Northwestern just had five hits in game two. The top four hitters in the Eagle lineup (Simonson, Peterson, Vercoe, and Severson) each had one, and Lindow had the fifth.
Crabb and Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) were named to the All-Regional Team. Crabb pitched 12.1 innings while striking out eight and only allowing four earned runs. In addition, he was six for twenty-one at the plate with four runs scored and three RBIs. Peterson was seven for twenty-one at the plate as he scored three runs and drove in four. Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) also had a fantastic tournament as he went thirteen for twenty-three with six runs scored and three RBIs. Owen Boerema (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) threw 17 innings while striking out 13 and allowing three earned runs.
Season Recap
Northwestern fell one game short of the DIII College World Series. Still, they finished the season as definitively the best team in Northwestern history and in strong contention as the best team in UMAC history. They tied the 2008 team from St. Scholastica as the only UMAC team to win three games in an NCAA Regional Tournament.
The team won a school-record 35 games and finished with a 15-1 conference record, also the best in school history. They beat a nationally ranked Whitewater team, which also lost in the Regional Championship, and beat one of the final eight teams in the College World Series in St. Thomas.
In addition to the team records, several individuals set records this season. Vercoe set the single-season home runs record with 13 in his first season with the program, tied for twelfth across all of DIII. He also would have set the runs record with 48, surpassing the 46 that Ryan Long scored in 2009, but his teammate, Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge), set it first. The senior right fielder finished with a staggering 56 runs in 184 at-bats. Simonson also finished with 26 stolen bases which sits tied for third in program history. The team collectively stole bases at an unprecedented rate as they finished the season with 115 thefts. That is the fourth most steals across the country and the second-most in program history. The team also finished with 116 doubles which blew away the previous high of 82, and is the third-most in DIII.
Moving over to the pitching side, Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) set the single-season wins record with nine. He and Owen Boerema (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) both threw six complete games, which is tied for fifth nationally. Crabb finished the year with a 1.52 ERA, which is twenty-third in the nation. Of the twenty-two people ahead of him, only two threw more than his 83 innings. Boerema finished the year with a 2.08 ERA, which is tied for 57th. Of the people ahead of him, only four (including Crabb) threw more than his 82.1 innings.
The team struck out 322 batters in 392.2 innings, shattering the previous record of 258, which is eighteenth in the country. Their opponent batting average against of .241 is easily the best in program history, bettering the .260 that 2004 had as the previous record. Finally, the 3.32 staff ERA is sixth-best in program history and finished twenty-fifth in the nation. Of those twenty-four teams, four threw more than Northwestern's 392.2 innings.
The record book will showcase all kinds of records from this season, showing once again that this is the best team in program history. This year's seniors have been building towards, and accomplished their primary goal of winning the UMAC Regular Season and Tournament Championships. They went beyond that to winning three games in the NCAA Tournament and staking their name as one of the best sixteen teams in Division III Baseball. This senior class, composed of Max Barthel (Farmington, Minn./Farmington), Eric Peterson (Coon Valley, Wis./Westby), Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin), Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool), Carlton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls), Noah Franzen (Shoreview, Minn./Homeschool), Philip Wall (Juneau, Alaska/IDEA), Chad Wakabayashi (Waipahu, Hawaii/Hanalani), Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge), and Trevor Koritz (Eagle River, Wis./Byron), have established the culture of a winning program.
The seniors have shown what it takes to win at a high level and what it takes to succeed at the national stage. They led the best team in program history and had a dream season that resulted in a tie for the best finish of any UMAC team in conference history. In a season that no one will soon forget, Northwestern can proudly say that it finished as the runner-up in an NCAA Regional Tournament, which is a place that no one saw coming going into the season.
NCAA Tournament Schedule
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Game One: Trinity (TX) vs. Johns Hopkins; Johns Hopkins won 11-2
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Game Two: Aurora vs. Saint Mary's: Saint Mary's won 15-13
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Game Three: Misericordia vs. Northwestern: Northwestern won 6-3
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Game Four: Trinity (TX) vs. Aurora; Aurora won 14-9
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Game Five: Johns Hopkins vs. Misericordia; Misericordia won 11-4
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Game Six: Saint Mary's vs. Northwestern; Northwestern won 3-1
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Game Seven: Saint Mary's vs. Johns Hopkins; Johns Hopkins won 7-2
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Game Eight: Aurora vs. Misericordia; Misericordia won 6-5
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Game Nine: Northwestern vs. Johns Hopkins; Johns Hopkins won 11-7
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Game Ten: Northwestern vs. Misericordia; Northwestern won 7-6
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Game Eleven: Johns Hopkins vs. Northwestern; Johns Hopkins won 3-2
Follow Northwestern baseball online at www.unweagles.com or on Twitter @unwbaseball.
⚾ We spoke with Coach Hieb, Ben Spores (Arlington, Wa./Arlington), and Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) following UNW Baseball's thrilling13-inning 7-6 walk-off win over Misericordia in the NCAA Regional earlier today! 🦅 #CompeteWithPurpose
Posted by University of Northwestern Athletics on Monday, May 31, 2021
⚾ We spoke with Coach Hieb, Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge), and Carlton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) following UNW Baseball's battle with Johns Hopkins in the NCAA Regional Championship game to close out the 2021 season today 🦅 #CompeteWithPurpose
Posted by University of Northwestern Athletics on Monday, May 31, 2021
