FORT PIERCE, Fla.- The University of Northwestern Baseball team had the misfortune of leaving the balmy Twin Cities and heading down to Florida this past week to play an eight game slate. Alright, even though this spring has seen the Roseville area reach record highs and the Eagles played a nearly unthinkable six outdoor baseball games in Minnesota before they departed for the Sunshine State, Minnesota in March still cannot compete with the beautiful weather that the Eagles have experienced in Florida over the past week. Northwestern concluded their annual spring break trip with a pair of seven innings games against Lasell University on Friday. The Eagles got strong pitching performances in both games but were unable to break through, losing 1-0 and 5-3 respectively.
Game One
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian), the Eagles' ace and all-time winningest pitcher, hadn't pitched in exactly two weeks to the day on Friday. The last time the right hander was on the mound he pitched eight innings of one run ball and struck out 11. Anybody who thought the UNW ace would experience some rust in his return to the mound against Lasell was wrong. Like, super wrong.
Crabb would take the loss in the contest, but it may be the most unjust loss in the history of collegiate baseball (for context, the first college baseball game was played on July 1
st, 1859. According to an extremely quick Google search). Crabb was spectacular on the mound pitching a complete game (7 innings) while striking out eight batters and not giving up a single earned run. He only gave up three hits in the ball game.
It was clear from the get-go that this game was going to be a pitchers' duel. Crabb picked up two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 top half of the first.
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) would pick up a two out single in the home half of the first but the other three Eagles would be punched out. The only baserunner that Crabb allowed in the second inning came off of a dropped third strike. UNW went down in order in the bottom of the second themselves.
The Lasers (yes, that is Lasell's mascot. And yes, it is a sick mascot) picked up their first hit in the third when they doubled off of Crabb. However, the next batter popped out to
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) who doubled up the runner at second base to end the inning. To lead off the home half of the third,
Cannon Jackson (Mauldin, S.C./St. Joseph's Catholic) dumped a single into right field. He would be stranded at first base and the pitchers' duel was officially on. Nothing-nothing tie after three innings.
In the fourth inning, the Lasers broke the tie but did it without ever getting a ball out of the infield. With one out, they picked up an infield single to the left side. With two outs, Lasell recorded another infield single, this time with a ball hit back to the mound. Crabb walked the next batter and the Lasers had laser focus on their best scoring opportunity of the game (that pun really didn't make sense, but we were desperate to use it). With the bases loaded and two outs, a passed ball brought in an unearned run. It would end up as the only run of the game as Lasell won 1-0. Crabb recovered to strike out the batter and end the threat.
The Eagles went down 1-2-3 in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings. However, they had a great scoring chance to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) led off the inning and drilled a ball to left field. He motored around the bases and slid in with a leadoff triple. With the tying run on third and nobody out, the Eagles seemed primed to tie the game. But the next batter struck out and then
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian) hit a fly ball to right field. Severson tried to tag up to tie the game but he was thrown out on a laser of a throw from the Lasers' right fielder to keep the game at 1-0.
The Eagles had three hits in the game and
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) was the Eagle who joined Jackson and Severson with a base hit in the contest.
Game Two
Everybody who was tasked with taking an at bat in game two was happy to see
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) (Northwestern) and Adam Marsh (Lasell) take a seat for the second game of the doubleheader. The two starting pitchers were excellent in the opener and the offenses from both sides were ready to break out in the finale.
The Eagles, having flipped to the visiting side for game two, led off the game with a bang.
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian) came up with one out and doubled to centerfield. Bruce took third base on a passed ball before a strikeout made it two outs in the frame.
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) came up with a clutch, two out knock to bring in Bruce for the first run of the game and the day for UNW. They had a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom half of the opening inning.
Unfortunately for the Eagles' fans in attendance, the Lasers' offense was also in the mood to break out after having been stifled in game one. They used two walks, two stolen bases, a hit by pitch, and two base hits to take a 3-1 lead after the first frame.
After a first inning with a lot of action on the base paths, the second inning was smooth sailing for each starting pitcher. The Eagles went down 1-2-3 in the top of the second before their starting pitcher,
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights), pitched a 1-2-3 frame himself, finishing it off with a swinging punch out.
UNW went down in order in the top of the third before Severson took the mound again. He picked up a groundout to start the inning before hitting a batter and issuing a walk. The right hander bounced back by picking up a much needed strikeout for out number two. The runners each swiped a back moving to second and third with two outs. Severson needed to make a good pitch to keep the Eagles' deficit at two and he delivered by inducing a line drive hit right at
Caleb Hautajarvi (Barnum, Minn./Barnum Secondary) at shortstop.
In the top of the fourth, it was the Eagles' turn to get something cooking with the bats.
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) hit a two out double followed by
Gilbert Garcia Jr. (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's) who singled up the middle. Pilon was held up at third and the Eagles' had runners on the corners, trailing by two, with two outs. A strikeout ended the rally.
Lasell added some insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth. Two batters were hit by pitches, they each stole a base, and an RBI single brought them both home. Northwestern trailed 5-1 entering the fifth inning.
Hautajarvi picked up a hit in the fifth but wouldn't find a way to come around to score.
Andrew Simon (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Mounds View) came out of the bullpen for the Eagles and the first batter he faced reached on an error. A pair of wild pitches would move that runner all the way up to third base. But the Eagles' freshman relief pitcher, who has had a strong start to his career, stayed calm and recorded three swinging strikeouts to end the scoreless inning.
The Eagles had two more chances with the bats to cut into a four run deficit. They cut that deficit in half in the sixth inning and the entire rally started with two outs. Pilon drew a two out walk and Garcia Jr. was hit by a pitch.
Cannon Jackson (Mauldin, S.C./St. Joseph's Catholic) delivered the biggest hit of the day for the good guys in purple jerseys as he laced a double to left field to score Pilon and Garcia Jr. Simon pitched a 1-2-3 bottom half of the sixth and the Eagles entered the seventh and final frame trailing by a pair of runs.
The Eagles made the Lasers sweat in the seventh but were ultimately unable to put together a comeback effort.
Braden Storts (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka) reached first base with one out thanks to a Lasell error.
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian) walked and the tying run was on base with only one out. However, the next two UNW batters were retired and the Eagles came up short, 5-3.
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) picked up five strikeouts in four innings of work on the mound.
Andrew Simon (Brooklyn Park, Minn./Mounds View) was brilliant in relief picking up four strikeouts in two innings of scoreless relief.
The Eagles had six hits from six different players:
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian),
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley),
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong),
Gilbert Garcia Jr. (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's),
Cannon Jackson (Mauldin, S.C./St. Joseph's Catholic), and
Caleb Hautajarvi (Barnum, Minn./Barnum Secondary). Karges had one run batted in while Jackson had a pair of RBIs.
Up Next
Having concluded their yearly trip to Florida, the UNW Baseball team will begin their trek back north to Minnesota. The next time the Eagles will be in action will be their UMAC opener on the road against North Central University on Friday, March 22
nd. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00pm.
