KANSAS CITY, Mo.- The University of Northwestern Baseball team is in Kansas City this week competing in the National Christian College Athletic Association National Tournament. Thanks to a strong regular season, the Eagles earned the #3 seed in the tournament. The Eagles squared off against #6 seed Southwestern Christian University for the first matchup between the two schools in program history. The Eagles (the Northwestern Eagles as both teams' mascot is the Eagles) won their opening game of the tournament, 9-5.
Southwestern Christian won the pregame coin toss and was able to play as the home team in the contest. As a result, UNW would bat first and be held scoreless in the first inning. In the second inning
Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) got on base with a single and then stole second base. Peterson would advance to third on a
Guerin Szafraniec (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) single, and score the game's first run thanks to an RBI groundout by
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington).
In the top half of the fourth inning, it was Peterson, Szafraniec, and Spores making things happen again. Peterson singled to left field, and on the very next pitch, Szafraniec launched a triple to right field to score Peterson for the second time in the ball game. The very next pitch after that was sent right back up the middle for an RBI single for Spores. The Eagles scored two runs in the fourth inning and led 3-0.
Southwestern Christian struggled to get offense going against UNW's ace
Owen Boerema (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield). In the fifth inning, the Eagles were finally able to scrape a run across against the lefthander. A fielders' choice back to the pitcher gave SCU their first run of the game, and the score was 3-1 after five innings.
There would be a lot more offense in the later stages of this game. The Eagles' senior captain
Guerin Szafraniec (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) continued his big game in the sixth inning. The centerfielder hit an RBI single to left field that scored
Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte), and later would come around to score on a wild pitch. Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, UNW was in control 5-1.
However, in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Eagles (from Southwestern Christian) started to make a run of their own. Combining walks with base hits, SCU began to chip into UNW's lead. A no out, first pitch double to left field scored a run for the Eagles, and that was followed by a two run single up the middle. Boerema would recover nicely and retire the side, but UNW's lead was now only 5-4.
With all the momentum on Southwestern Christian's side, UNW needed to respond in the top half of the seventh inning, and they did just that.
Payton Christenson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) got it started with a one out walk, and
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) followed that up with a single that advanced Christenson to third base.
Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) would bring Christenson in to score with a sacrifice fly to the deepest part of the ball park, the warning track in centerfield.
Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin), as he has done many times in his career with the Eagles, delivered the biggest hit of the game. Peterson crushed a ball over the left field wall for the only UNW homerun of the game. Peterson's tenth homerun of the year was a two run shot that gave the Eagles an 8-4 lead.
In the eighth inning,
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) brought home
Trey Boushee (Fosston, Minn./Fosston) with a pinch hit single to left field, and the Eagles led 9-4. SCU would get that run back in the ninth inning as they hit their only homerun of the game, a solo shot to right field, and that brought us to our final score of 9-5.
Owen Boerema (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) pitched 7 plus innings on the mound and picked up his ninth win of the season. Boerema continues to strike out batters at an impressive clip, picking up 11 punch outs in the game.
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) would come in and pitch two innings to close things out for UNW, only giving up one run and also striking out a batter.
The seniors led the way for the Eagles offensively in the opening game of the national tournament.
Guerin Szafraniec (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) had four hits and two RBIs while
Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) added three hits and two RBIs.
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington) also had two hits for UNW while driving in two runs, and
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) had two base hits for the Eagles as well.
With the win, the Eagles have guaranteed that they will be playing on Monday of this double elimination National Tournament. UNW's next game will be tomorrow night (Saturday, May 21
st) at 6:00pm. Updates can be found at unweagles.com, @UNWEagles on twitter, or @UNWBaseball on twitter.
