MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Baseball team continues to fit a lot of baseball into a small period of time as they played their fourth game in three days on Monday. This time, the Eagles played North Central at the Rams' home field. This is the third and final game of the season series between the two teams and the Eagles were able to complete the sweep by defeating the Rams 19-7.
As was the case in the second game of the season series, the game was competitive for a majority of the game before the Eagles were able to stretch it out late in the game. This time, the Rams jumped out to an early lead on their home field. The Rams showcased their power hitting ability by hitting two run homeruns in each the second and third innings.
Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) would drive a single to centerfield to score
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) in the third inning to get the Eagles on the board, but North Central led 4-1 after three innings.
The fourth inning was very good to the Eagles as they began to put a rally together to grab their first lead of the game.
Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) would come up to the plate with the bases loaded (which would be a theme later in the game) and would get hit by a pitch to drive in a run. The very next batter,
Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin), would clear the bases with a shot to right field. Peterson would end up with a double and Vercoe along with
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) and
Payton Christenson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) would score.
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) would then bring Peterson home with a single, and when the dust settled, the Eagles had a five run inning and led 6-4.
After the big inning, it appeared as if the Eagles would begin to pull away as they had in the previous meetings between the two teams. However, North Central continued to swing the bats well. The Rams delivered two run scoring singles in the fifth inning to tie the game, and then an RBI double in the seventh inning put the Rams back on top late in the ballgame. The Rams led 7-6 as the game moved into the eighth inning.
The Eagles offense would absolutely explode in a big way in the final two innings of play. It all began in the top half of the eighth as
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game and
Guerin Szafraniec (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) added a sacrifice fly of his own to give the Eagles the lead. The side was retired, and after a scoreless eighth inning for the Rams, the Eagles led 8-7 entering the final inning.
Clearly, the Eagles were saving their best for last. In the final inning of the game the Eagles put together one of their best offensive innings of the season. The Eagles would score a whopping 11 runs in the ninth inning to deliver the knockout blow.
Payton Christenson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls),
Trey Boushee (Fosston, Minn./Fosston), and
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) would all deliver RBIs to give the Eagles a 15-7 lead.
Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) came up to the plate with the bases loaded once again, and the best homerun hitter in program history delivered the nail in the coffin. Vercoe hit his 13
th homerun and his second grand slam of the season to give the Eagles the 19-7 win. Vercoe, who is already Northwestern Baseball's all-time homerun leader, is closing in on another milestone. Vercoe's 13
th homerun of the season ties the Eagles' single season homerun mark, a record that is held by, you guessed it,
Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte). With his next homerun, the slugger will break his own single season homerun record.
Noah Skarda (Nipomo, Calif./St. Joseph's) got the start on the mound for the Eagles and pitched three innings while picking up three strikeouts.
Sam Szymanski (Woodbury, Minn./Homeschool) picked up the win out of the bullpen by pitching four innings and striking out four batters.
The Eagles will continue their busy week as they play a three game weekend series with Northland College starting on Friday.
