Florida Coast, FL -- The University of Northwestern Eagles baseball team (3-0) continued its hot start to the 2023 season with a 6-5 walk off win over Monmouth College (1-1).
Both teams put two runners on in the first but neither the Scots or the Eagles could capitalize. The Scots changed that in the top of the second, though, as they recorded a two-run home run in the frame. Later on in the inning,
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) stranded the bases loaded to keep it a two-run deficit.
The Eagles offense responded to the challenge by tying the score in the bottom half of the frame.
CJ Toutant (Hortonville, Wis./Christian Liberty) hit a one-out double before
Beau Rabey (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) singled him home.
Daniel Peterson (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) followed with another single to put runners on first and second.
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) then reached on a fielder's choice that brought Rabey home to score to tie the game at 2.
Monmouth once again put runners on the base paths in the third inning but Severson stranded them to keep the game tied. The Eagles' bats had a different idea and took the lead after
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian) came around to score on Monmouth's second of five errors on the day. The Scots immediately tied it back up at 3 in the fourth before taking the 4-3 lead in the sixth. The Scots extended the lead to 5-3 in the seventh but the Eagles escaped a very dangerous situation. They threw a runner out trying to steal home and stranded the bases loaded to keep the game a two-run deficit.
The Eagles took the momentum from escaping the bases loaded jam in the top half of the frame to the batter's box and managed to tie the game. Pilon reached on an error to start the inning before
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) and
Payton Christenson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) singled to load the bases. Bruce hit into a double play, but it brought Pilon across the plate.
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington) then reached on another Scott error that brought Crabb in to tie the game.
In the bottom of the ninth, Pilon, Crabb, and Christenson all singled to load the bases with no outs. Bruce then lofted a fly ball to right field and Pilon scampered home to give the Eagles their first walk-off win of the season.
The Eagles offense recorded 11 hits as Pilon, Crabb, Christenson, and Peterson all had two hits.
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) threw six innings in his first collegiate start. The junior struck out 10 and gave up four earned runs.
Brayden Heatherly (Kaneche, Hawaii/Mid-Pacific Institute) came in after the first batter of the seventh for his collegiate debut and recorded two outs in the frame.
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Illinois/Yorkville) then came in and shut the door in seventh and for the following two innings in a great first collegiate appearance as he only allowed one base runner.
Up Next
The Eagles will battle Penn State Behrend on Tuesday afternoon with first pitch slated for 1:00 PM (ET). Follow @UNWBaseball on Twitter for updates during the game.
