ST. PAUL, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Baseball team wrapped up their three game series with UMAC opponent Bethany Lutheran on Saturday. The Eagles dropped the third and final game of the series by a score of 12-1.
The series finale got off to a good start for the home team.
Sam Szymanski (Woodbury, Minn./Homeschool) pitched two scoreless innings to start the game while UNW's offense backed him up with an early run. The game's scoring started in the bottom of the second inning.
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington) hit a leadoff single and then advanced to second on an error in right field.
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) moved Spores to third base with a single of his own.
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) would pick up an RBI with a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Spores. The Eagles would load the bases later in the inning but would not get the key hit to drive in more runs and they had to settle for one.
UNW ran into some trouble from the third inning on as Bethany's offense caught fire through the middle innings. Four runs in the third, three runs in the fourth, one run in the fifth, and two runs in the sixth would give BLC a comfortable 10-1 lead before they would add two more insurance runs in the ninth inning to win the game 12-1.
The hits in the contest were pretty even between the two teams with the Vikings picking up nine and the Eagles picking up eight. However, walks will haunt as the Eagles found out the hard way on Saturday. They only drew two walks in the contest while they conceded eight walks to BLC. UNW also left 13 men on base.
Sam Szymanski (Woodbury, Minn./Homeschool) picked up six strikeouts in the four innings he worked. The senior was charged with allowing seven runs, but only four of them were earned.
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Illinois/Yorkville) pitched two innings out of the bullpen and picked up a strikeout. Only one of his three runs allowed was an earned run.
Brayden Heatherly (Kaneche, Hawaii/Mid-Pacific Institute) was solid out of the bullpen pitching two scoreless innings and punching out three batters.
Noah Skarda (Nipomo, Calif./St. Joseph's) picked up two strikeouts while giving up two runs out of the pen.
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) led the Eagles' offense by going 2-4 at the dish.
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights),
Gilbert Garcia Jr. (Stockton, Cali./Saint Mary's),
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington),
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley),
Daniel Peterson (Burlington, Wis./Burlington), and
Beau Rabey (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) each had hits in the contest as well.
Up Next
The Eagles have been busy, playing eight games in the past nine days. They get a little bit of a rest now as they prepare for a three game set with Minnesota-Morris starting on Thursday, April 20
th. The series was originally scheduled to be played at UMM but has been moved to Reynolds Field on UNW's campus.
