ASHLAND, Wis.- On Friday afternoon the University of Northwestern Baseball team traveled up past the north shore to Northland College to begin a three game series with the Lumberjacks. Northland defeated Northwestern 3-2 in 10 innings on Friday but the Eagles bounced back in a big way in Saturday afternoon's doubleheader. UNW only needed seven innings to win the opener 15-1 and followed that up with a 5-2 victory in the series finale.
With Saturday's pair of wins, the Eagles have won the season series against Northland. UNW is now 12-14 on the season and 9-3 in UMAC play. The Eagles have completed their regular season series with four conference opponents up to this point (North Central, Minnesota-Morris, Martin Luther, and Northland). At 9-3, the Eagles are firmly in the UMAC postseason tournament race currently slotted in fourth place with three series against conference opponents remaining (Bethany Lutheran, Wisconsin-Superior, and Crown). UNW still has six games remaining with Bethany Lutheran (11-0 UMAC) and Wisconsin-Superior (7-1 UMAC) who are currently the top two teams in the conference standings. Despite the challenging remaining schedule, the Eagles have positioned themselves in a strong place to be one of the four UMAC postseason teams with 12 UMAC games completed and nine remaining.
Game One
It is a safe assumption to make that the Eagles may have taken some of their offensive frustrations from the opening game of the series out on the poor baseballs that got assigned to Saturday's opener. After mustering only four hits and two runs in ten innings on Friday, UNW's offense exploded for 17 hits and 15 runs in the second game of the series on their way to a 15-1 rout of the Lumberjacks.
The Eagles only needed two at bats to create a run in the top of the first.
Braden Storts (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka) singled, stole second, and advanced to third when Northland's catcher threw the ball into centerfield.
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Storts and UNW led 1-0.
The Eagles' first, but not last, big inning of the day came in the top of the second.
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian) scored on a
Gilbert Garcia Jr. (Stockton, Calif./Saint Mary's) single. Storts hit a two run triple bringing
Caleb Vereide (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) and
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) around to score. Crabb singled in Storts.
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) ended the scoring in the frame with a double to left field that brought home Crabb as well as
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College). The Eagles scored six runs in the second and led by a touchdown, 7-0.
Northland got their lone run of the game in the bottom of the second but that did nothing to slow down the Eagles' offense. UNW scored a pair of runs in the third thanks to a two run single from Crabb. Heading into the fourth inning, UNW was well in control of the ball game, leading 9-1.
Braden Storts (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka) continued his bid for the cycle in the fifth inning when he hit a two run home run to put the Eagles up by ten runs. The home run was the freshman's second of the season and his career.
The top of the sixth frame saw the Eagles put up yet another crooked number on the navy blue scoreboard.
Caleb Vereide (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) drove in a pair of runs with a double to centerfield. Storts would then hit an infield single to the shortstop and some of us who were watching the game online thought Storts should have tried to go to second base because he only needed a double to complete the cycle, but that is why some of us will not be added to Coach
Jesse Eikum's coaching staff anytime soon. Crabb drove in another run with a single. Storts came around to score on an RBI single from
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College). When the game finally came to an end, UNW's offense had led them to a decisive 15-1 victory on the road.
In addition to the performance with the bats,
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) turned in his best start of the season on the mound for the Eagles. He picked up his first win of the year by going seven innings, only giving up two hits, allowing one run, and striking out six batters. The game only went seven innings because the Eagles were ahead by more than ten runs, which means Severson pitched a complete game.
Braden Storts (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka) did miss out on hitting for the cycle because he did not hit a double but we suggest that you forgive him anyways. The freshman was on a heater at the plate in the Eagles' win. He finished 5-6, scored five runs, and had four RBIs.
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian), who had the benefit of hitting directly behind a guy who had five hits in the order, finished 3-3 with a run scored and five RBIs.
Game Two
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Eagles' offense got off to another blazing hot start and it appeared as if it would result in another lopsided victory. However, Northland's pitching staff settled down in the middle innings and their offense scored some runs late in the game to keep Saturday's finale competitive.
Storts continued his unbelievable day at the plate with another leadoff single and steal of second base to start the game. Bligh singled him home and UNW jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
After going scoreless in the second, UNW's offense scored three runs in the third. Again, Storts, and his partner in crime
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian), were right in the middle of it. Storts walked and Crabb singled to start the inning. Bligh, Karges, and Bruce would all hit run scoring singles before the inning was over and UNW jumped out to a 4-0 lead, looking for the series victory.
As previously stated, Northland's pitching staff contained the Eagles' offense during the middle parts of the ball game. The only other run that the Eagles would score came in the seventh when Storts singled (I mean, come on. The day this dude had was wild) and Bligh singled him home. UNW led 5-0 after seven innings.
Why did Northland have zero runs through seven innings? Because the Eagles' ace,
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian), was on the mound and was dealing. The Lumberjacks would get an unearned run off of Crabb in the eighth inning but that was it for the contest. Crabb finished after eight innings of work and gave up three hits, no earned runs, and struck out ten batters.
Dreyer Homan (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY) pitched the ninth inning out of the bullpen for the Eagles and surrendered a run but would not surrender the lead. The Eagles held on to win 5-2.
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) was the Eagles' top run producer in game two. The Australian slugger went 4-5, scored a run, and drove in three. Storts finished with two hits, a walk, and scored three runs. Crabb (in addition to the gem he threw on the mound) and
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) each had a pair of hits as well. The Eagles had 12 hits in the game giving them a total of 29 hits in Saturday's doubleheader.
Up Next
The Eagles have a big week ahead of them. After playing 12 consecutive conference games, UNW will play a doubleheader against nonconference opponent Saint John's on Monday, April 15
th. The following weekend, the Eagles will square off with first place Bethany Lutheran College. All five games will take place on the road this week. Follow along with the UNW Baseball team at UNWEagles.com, @unweagles (X and Instagram), @unwbaseball (X), and @unwbaseballmn (Instagram).
