ST. PAUL, Minn.- UNW Baseball fans who didn't know the Eagles were playing as the road team on Tuesday against North Central may have been concerned when they walked up to Reynolds Field and saw the scoreboard reading that the home team was down by double digit runs. Those fans can rest easy because the Eagles were in the visitors column and they defeated the "host" Rams 16-0 in the UMAC opener on a sunny and windy afternoon.
Usually when a team scores 16 runs in the game, the hot-swinging bats are the lead story. However, on Tuesday, the Eagles' starting pitcher was the headliner.
Nick Drinken (Randolph, Minn./Randolph) pitched a complete game shutout going seven innings, giving up one hit, one walk, and striking out ten batters. Drinken walked the second batter he faced in the contest in the bottom of the first. After that, he was nearly perfect. He took a no-hit bid all the way into the seventh inning. He picked up a strikeout for out number one. Induced a groundball for out number two. Needing one more out to complete the no-hitter, Drinken induced another groundball. Unfortunately for the right hander, the grounder was placed perfectly up the middle.
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong), the Eagles' second baseman, knew what was at stake and made a tremendous effort to get to the ball, dive, and knock it down but there was no possible play to be made. Drinken retired the next batter and the Rams ended the game with one hit, one walk, and no runs.
Offensively, everybody in the Eagles' lineup had the bats working on Tuesday afternoon. 12 Eagles had hits in the game while seven Eagles had multiple hits. UNW's offense totaled 19 hits in the contest and drew four walks. The Eagles finished with four extra base hits with
Gilbert Garcia Jr. (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's),
Caleb Hautajarvi (Barnum, Minn./Barnum Secondary), and
Caleb Vereide (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) picking up doubles and Hautajarvi adding a triple.
The Eagles didn't score in the first inning as the game was tied 0-0 entering the second inning. Their scoreless inning streak would end there. They took a two run lead in the second inning thanks to RBI singles from
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) and
Braden Storts (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka). The home team (except not really the home team even though they were playing on their home field and everything in the stadium is purple and gold… this is confusing) scored four more in the third. Severson had another RBI hit and this time was joined by
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) and
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian) who also drove in runs.
The Eagles went up 8-0 after they scored another pair of runs in the fourth. Karges picked up both RBIs with another RBI base hit to right field. The Eagles' biggest inning came in the top of the fifth when they pushed across six runs. Pilon, Hautajarvi, and Garcia Jr. drove in runs in the frame. After going scoreless in the sixth, the Eagles finished off the contest with two more runs in the seventh. Vereide doubled in a run and
Christian Raya (Moline, Ill./Moline) picked up an RBI on an infield single.
The Eagles' win snaps a five game skid and gives them a 1-0 record in conference play. UNW's series against North Central continues this weekend where they will be the road team at Reynolds Field once again. Those games are scheduled for Saturday, March 23
rd but Eagle fans are encouraged to check UNWEagles.com for schedule updates throughout the week as weather may cause changes to the schedule.
