ST. PAUL, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Baseball team stayed busy as they squared off with North Central at Reynolds Field on Tuesday night. The contest marked the fourth game in as many days for UNW, will all of those games being UMAC contests. The Eagles defended their home field by defeating the visiting Rams 10-5.
The long ball was the story in the first inning. North Central started the game by hitting a two run homerun over the left field fence in only the third at bat of the game to take an early 2-0 lead. They would not capitalize anymore in the frame and UNW came up to bat for the first time in the game trailing by a pair of runs. The Eagles would answer with a long ball of their own. With
Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington) on second base and
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) on first base, freshman
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Illinois/Yorkville) would launch his second homerun of the season to give his team a 3-2 lead in the first inning. Both homeruns left the ball park at nearly the same exact spot in left center field.
The teams would continue to go back and forth as they each added a run in the third inning. North Central tied the game at three thanks to a two out RBI double.
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) would give the Eagles the lead right back by scoring on a wild pitch in the bottom of the frame to put UNW back on top 4-3.
Alex Luepke (Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) was making his first career start on the mound for the Eagles and he made it an evening to remember by picking up his first collegiate win. Despite giving up some early runs, the freshman got into a rhythm in the middle innings. Luepke would breeze through the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings by not giving up a run or a hit in that stretch.
The Eagles' offense on the other hand found their stride in the sixth inning.
Beau Rabey (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) and
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) led off the inning with singles before
Zach Unterseher (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka) laid down a bunt for the third straight single to start the inning.
Daniel Peterson (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) made it four straight base hits with an RBI single to right field. Karges would score on a double play ball before
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) brought home Unterseher with an RBI double. The Eagles put up three in the inning and led 7-3.
North Central, who had been held in check for three straight innings by Luepke, would get their offense going again in the seventh. Luepke retired the first two batters of the inning but then ran into some trouble giving up a walk and back to back doubles.
Nick Drinken (Randolph, Minn./Randolph) would come in and produce a ground ball to
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) at second base to end the inning. UNW still clung to a 7-5 lead.
The Eagles would put the game away in the seventh and eighth innings. UNW answered NCU's seventh inning run with one of their own when
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Illinois/Yorkville) scored.
Gilbert Garcia Jr. (Stockton, Cali./Saint Mary's) would then drive in
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) and
Daniel Peterson (Burlington, Wis./Burlington) with a single to left field. Drinken would pitch scoreless eighth and ninth innings to pick up his first save of the year. UNW won 10-5.
The Eagles' offense picked up an astounding 18 hits in the game. Nine different batters picked up those 18 hits, with seven different Eagles having multi-hit games.
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Illinois/Yorkville) and
Beau Rabey (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) led the way with three hits apiece.
Up Next
The Eagles' busy week will continue as they now prepare for a three game series at Reynolds Field against Northland College starting on Friday, April 28
th at 5:00 PM. After Friday's contest, UNW will host Northland twice on Saturday. After Saturday's doubleheader, there will be a ceremony on the field honoring Head Coach
Dave Hieb for coaching the Eagles in his 28
th and final season.
