FORT PIERCE, Fla. – University of Northwestern Baseball opened their 2023 season on Friday morning with a doubleheader against Maritime College. The games were the first two of eight UNW will play down in Florida to start the spring. The Eagles swept the Privateers with a 7-2 win in the first game and an 8-6 victory in the second.
 
Game One
 
Northwestern scored their first run of the season in unorthodox fashion. With runners at the corners and no outs in the second inning, CJ Toutant (Hortonville, Wis./Christian Liberty) took off for second right before Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) drew a walk. The Privateer catcher threw down to second before the call was made for the fourth ball which allowed Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington) to score from third, putting UNW up 1-0.
 
Maritime tied the game in the third with an RBI single up the middle, but the Eagles retook the lead with a pair of runs in the fourth. Toutand hit an RBI double to left center as Spores scored all the way from first. Following a walk to Severson, Toutant proceeded to score by reaching third on a fielders choice and getting home on a throwing error by the pitcher, putting UNW up 3-1.
 
The Eagles scored twice more in the sixth inning. Payton Christenson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) drove home Cramer Hamilton (Apple Valley, Calif./Excelsior) with an RBI single. With the bases loaded two batters later, Spores hit an RBI single to right to score Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) from third and put Northwestern up 5-1.
 
Maritime followed in the bottom of the inning with an unearned run due to an Eagle error. UNW then scored two runs in the top of the seventh to go up by five. Gilbert Garcia Jr. (Stockton, Cali./Saint Mary's) drove in Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) with an RBI double to left. Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) later hit a sac fly to left, scoring Garcia Jr. from third.
 
Sam Szymanski (Woodbury, Minn./Homeschool) earned the win for Northwestern, allowing just one earned run in 6.2 innings of work while striking out eight. Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian) got the final out on the mound for the Eagles, closing out the 7-2 season opener win.
 
Game Two
 
The Privateers jumped out to an early lead in the second game of the doubleheader, scoring five runs in the top of the first inning. However, the Eagles didn't panic and proceeded to go to work.
 
The rally started in the third inning as the Eagles put three runs on the board to cut Maritime's lead down to 5-3. Pilon drove in Daniel Peterson (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) win an RBI single to kick things off. Christenson went on to hit a sac fly to right, scoring Pilon from third base. Bruce followed and knocked an RBI double to right, scoring Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) from second to cut UNW's deficit down to two runs.
 
Northwestern tied up the game one inning later, driving in a pair in the fourth. Pilon again hit an RBI single like he did in the third, driving in Karges. Likewise, Christenson again hit a sac fly to right as he did in the third, driving in Peterson.
 
The Privateers retook the lead in the fifth on a sac fly, but the Eagles responded with a three-run sixth inning to take the lead for good. Crabb scored to tie the game by hustling home from third on a wild pitch. Spores added an RBI single to drive in Bruce for what would be the game-winning run. Two batters later, Karges added one more run to the board for UNW by driving in Spores with an RBI single.
 
Crabb earned the win for the Eagles. The senior battled through a tough first inning and then proceeded to mow down the Privateers the rest of the way, striking out 10 batters in 6.0 innings of work while only allowing three earned runs. Alex Luepke (Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) earned a save with a scoreless inning in the seventh.
 
Up Next
 
Northwestern is back in action on Saturday, March 4 as they take on Monmouth College at 4:30pm local time (3:30pm CST).