FLORIDA COAST, Fla.- The University of Northwestern Baseball team is nearing the end of their annual trip to Florida as they played two more games in the Sunshine State on Thursday. The Eagles dropped the opener to Elizabethtown 16-3, before bouncing back with a dramatic 7-5 win over Penn State Behrend.
Game One
In the opening game on Thursday afternoon, UNW had trouble retiring Elizabethtown in the second and sixth innings. This led to two crooked numbers that the Eagles were not able to overcome in the loss.
The trouble for the Eagles started in the second inning when they surrendered six runs to the Blue Jays. Two run scoring singles, an RBI double, a sacrifice fly, and an Eagle error led to the big rally that gave Elizabethtown a lead that they would never relinquish. Three more runs in the fourth inning put UNW in a 9-0 hole heading into the middle innings. The Blue Jays' second big rally came in the sixth inning where they scored five runs. Similar to their first rally, Elizabethtown got two RBI singles and an RBI double to string together the rally.
Trailing 14-0, the Eagles showed some life in the late innings. The top of the seventh saw the Eagles get on the board thanks to a single from
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) that scored
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington) and
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian). In the eighth inning the Eagles got some more offense, this time it was a base hit from
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) that scored
Payton Christenson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) to make it a 14-3 ballgame.
The Blue Jays would get two more runs in the eighth inning to stretch their lead to 16-3, which was the final score.
Game Two
Things would not get any easier for the Eagles in the second game that they played on Thursday afternoon as they went up against the Lions from Penn State Behrend. The Lions had defeated the Eagles 17-8 just two days prior. However, the Eagles, the pitching staff in particular, came up with a big time response in the rematch between the two teams.
The Lions, who had proved that they have an explosive offense in the first meeting between the teams, jumped out to an early lead once again. The Lions would get runs in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead.
That would be all that the Lions could muster against Eagles' starting pitcher
Sam Szymanski (Woodbury, Minn./Homeschool). After giving up a couple of early runs, the senior settled in to a nice groove on the mound. The Lions would get an unearned run in the sixth inning, but that was it against UNW's right hander. Szymanski's final line was seven innings, two earned runs, and seven strikeouts.
Szymanski gave the Eagles a chance by containing a high powered offense, but it was up to the Eagles' bats to take advantage of it, and they did. The scoring started for the Eagles when
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington) scored on a
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) single, who would score himself on a double by
Daniel Peterson (Burlington, Wis./Burlington). The game was tied at the end of the fourth inning.
In the fifth inning,
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington) would hit a ball to second base that was scored as an error allowing
Payton Christenson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) to score and the Eagles had their first lead of the day, 3-2. After the Lions tied the game in the sixth inning, the game entered the late stages all knotted up and headed for a dramatic finish.
UNW's offense came through in a big way in crunch time. It was another Lions' error, this time off of the bat of
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) that allowed
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian) to score in the seventh inning.
Daniel Peterson (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) would then single home
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington) and the score was 5-3 in favor of UNW entering the eighth inning. Bruce would then double home
Payton Christenson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) and then score off a Lions' error to take a 7-3 lead entering the ninth inning.
Things got tense for UNW fans as the Lions made a late comeback push in the final frame. The first five men of the inning would reach base as the Eagles saw their lead cut to 7-5.
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian), who came up big late in the game with his bat, would come into pitch for the Eagles. The bases were loaded, the Eagles' clung to a two run lead, with only one out and Bruce was able to induce a game ending double play. The Eagles hung on to win, 7-5.
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian) was a key contributor for the Eagles in every phase of the game, collecting three hits and picking up the save on the mound.
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) and
Daniel Peterson (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) each had two knocks for UNW as well.
Up Next
The Eagles will finish their 2023 Florida trip with a double header against Gettysburg College on Friday, March 10
th. First pitch for the opener is scheduled for 9:00 A.M. CST.
