ARDEN HILLS, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Baseball team is in the final week of its season and played their two final nonconference games of the year on Wednesday. The Eagles made the short trip down Snelling Avenue to take on Bethel University in a doubleheader. The Eagles dropped a pair to the Royals 2-1 and 10-1.
Game One
Both of the games on Wednesday afternoon were seven inning games. Game one turned out to be a classic pitchers' duel. Freshman
Alex Luepke (Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) turned in the best start of his college career so far against a very high quality opponent. The Royals could not figure out the lefthander early on in the game as he pitched three scoreless innings to start the game.
The Eagles were also held scoreless for the first half of the shortened game and the game was locked in a scoreless tie as we entered the top of the fourth inning.
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) was the table setter as he got hit by a pitch and stole second base with no outs.
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) kept the line moving by drawing a walk. The Royals would go to the bullpen and retire back to back outs. With two outs,
Cramer Hamilton (Apple Valley, Calif./Excelsior) delivered a clutch base knock up the middle to score Bligh for the first run of the game.
Luepke went back to work in the fourth and protected the slim Eagle lead by pitching a scoreless frame. However, after holding the Eagles scoreless in the top half of the fifth, the Royals finally broke through in the bottom of the inning. Bethel would use a couple of errors to score a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead. That score would hold as the Eagles dropped the opener.
Luepke got hit with a very unfair loss on the mound. The lefty freshman was brilliant on the mound. His final line was six innings, five hits allowed, one earned run, and four strikeouts.
The Eagles' offense had six hits and
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) had two of them. The sophomore was 2-2 with a run scored.
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) was on base twice drawing two walks.
Gilbert Garcia Jr. (Stockton, Cali./Saint Mary's) only had one plate appearance, but came through with a pinch hit single.
Game Two
After being stifled throughout the first game, Bethel's offense exploded in the finale. A pair of RBI singles gave them a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
The Royals added two more in the second inning thanks to another RBI single (paired with a throwing error) that scored a couple of runs. The Royals would put up a crooked number in the fourth inning. An RBI double, two sacrifice flies, and a solo homerun gave BU an 8-0 lead. They would add two more runs in the sixth inning thanks to a two run homerun.
The Eagles' lone run came in the top of the fifth inning.
Logan Karnowski (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) drew a leadoff walk and then
Jackson Sonquist (Minneapolis, Minn./Patrick Henry) followed with a walk of his own.
Gabe Kennedy (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) would then get on base due to an error.
Kaleb Dube (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) then drew a walk with the bases loaded to pick up an RBI. The Eagles would not be able to chip into the lead any further and lost 10-1.
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Illinois/Yorkville),
Jonny Monson (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls), and
Simon Theisen (Bedford, Texas/Euless Trinity) pitched for the Eagles.
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College),
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley),
Gilbert Garcia Jr. (Stockton, Cali./Saint Mary's), and
Caleb Vereide (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) all had base hits.
Up Next
The Eagles will now look ahead to this weekend where they will conclude their season in New Ulm, Minnesota. UNW will play Martin Luther in a three game weekend series starting on Friday, May 5
th.
