ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern baseball team hosted the St. Olaf College Oles for their final game of the regular season on Monday night at Reynolds Field. Originally scheduled to start at 5:00 P.M. as two 7-inning games, a lightning delay pushed first pitch to 6:45 P.M. and turned the competition into a single 9-inning game.
On the mound,
Sam Szymanski (Woodbury, Minn./Homeschool) got the start for the Eagles. The junior threw four shutout innings of no-hit ball, striking out three along the way.
The Eagles struck first in the top of the first inning. After singling through the right side with two outs,
Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) used his speed to steal second and advance to third on the high throw.
Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) then drove in Vercoe with a double to left to put UNW up 1-0. In the next at bat,
Guerin Szafraniec (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) doubled the Eagles' lead with an RBI single up the middle to score Peterson.
The Oles scored thrice in the top of the fifth to take a lead. Back to back RBI doubles and a bases-loaded RBI single put St. Olaf up 3-2. The Eagles tied the game in the bottom half of the frame on a Peterson RBI single up the middle to score
Payton Christenson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls).
Northwestern took a two-run lead in the sixth. With runners on first and second and one out,
Cramer Hamilton (Apple Valley, Calif./Excelsior) singled down the right field line to score
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington). Christenson followed with an RBI groundout to score
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) and put UNW up 5-3.
The Eagles' lead didn't last as St. Olaf strung together an eight-run top of the seventh to go up 11-5. UNW kept up the fight but was unable to rally as they fell in their regular season finale.
Up next for Northwestern is the UMAC Tournament, which the Eagles will be hosting this Thursday through Saturday at Reynolds Field. #1 UNW will take on #4 UW-Superior on Thursday night, May 12, with first pitch scheduled for 7:00 P.M.
