ST. PAUL, Minn.- The University of Northwestern Baseball team picked up a pivotal series opening win on Tuesday over the Minnesota-Morris Cougars at Reynolds Field. That game was the first of three between the two teams and the series came to a close with a doubleheader hosted by UNW on Wednesday. The visitors responded after their defeat nearly 24 hours earlier as the Cougars defeated the Eagles 6-3 and 3-2 to claim the season series two games to one.
Game One
In seven of the innings in the opener on Wednesday, the Eagles' pitching staff held the Cougars scoreless. Unfortunately for our heroes in purple and gold, a baseball game is nine innings. In the two innings that Minnesota-Morris was able to put up runs, they put up enough to secure the victory.
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) pitched a 1-2-3 first inning before the Eagles came up in the bottom of the first and took an early lead.
Benji Bruce (Minneapolis, Minn./Maranatha Christian) walked and stole second base before advancing to third on Crabb's single (yes, we've been over this. He pitches and hits).
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) drove in Bruce with a groundball to second base and the Eagles led 1-0.
The top of the second came and went in the blink of an eye when Crabb struck out the Cougars' side. UNW would go down scoreless in the frame as well.
In the top of the third, the Cougars put up three runs to take the lead and it was really… weird. No, not in a bad way. Just in a weird way. Minnesota-Morris played "small ball" to perfection and capitalized on some Eagle miscues and scored three runs while only registering one hit in the inning. In the three run inning, Morris walked twice, was hit by a pitch once, advanced on one wild pitch, used a sacrifice bunt, and benefitted from two passed balls that scored runs.
In the bottom of the fourth, now trailing 3-1, the Eagles' put a small dent into the Cougars' lead.
Grady Karges (Oriska, N.D./Maple Valley) (double) and
Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) (single) came up with back-to-back hits with one out. Karges would then score an unearned run on a throwing error by the opposing pitcher. Entering the top of the fifth, UNW trailed by one run.
Crabb was cooking on the mound for the Eagles in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. In his four straight scoreless innings he picked up five strikeouts (including striking out the side in the seventh) and only gave up two hits. However, UNW's offense was not able to capitalize on their pitcher's dominance in the middle innings and still trailed 3-2 after seven innings.
Morris' offense woke up in the eighth inning. With the top of the order due up, the Cougars picked up a leadoff double. A sacrifice bunt gave the Eagles the first out of the inning but moved the runner up to third base. Crabb picked up a strikeout for out number two and was close to dancing his way out of trouble. Minnesota-Morris had other ideas. The next three at bats: double, double, triple. Morris led 6-2 and
Caleb Hautajarvi (Barnum, Minn./Barnum Secondary) (who pitched in both games on Wednesday) would come in out of the bullpen and end the inning with a strikeout.
Braden Storts (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka) led things off for the Eagles in the eighth inning and decided to use his speed to attempt to spark a comeback. He bunted for a base hit and proceeded to steal second base. Later in the inning, the Eagles had the bases loaded with two outs and the tying run at the plate. Pilon drilled a single to left field to score Storts. The Cougars made a pitching change and the Eagles had finally chased Morris' extremely effective starting pitcher from the game. However, UNW would not cash in on the Cougars' bullpen and stranded the bases loaded.
Simon Theisen (Bedford, Texas/Euless Trinity) would pitch a perfect ninth inning for the Eagles; picking up two strikeouts and not allowing a baserunner. In the bottom half of the ninth, UNW got the tying run to the plate thanks to a walk from Storts and a single from Bruce. They would not come around to score and UNW lost 6-3.
Game Two
The storyline of game two was very simple: Minnesota-Morris scored all of their runs at the beginning of the game and Northwestern scored all of their runs at the end of the game. Sadly, for those that were cheering for the home team, when Morris scored their runs in the opening innings, they scored one more than UNW was able to in the closing innings.
Both squads went down scoreless in the first inning and in the top of the second frame, it was a big swing from the team wearing black, maroon, and gold that started the scoring. A two run home run with no outs put the Cougars up 2-0.
Pilon drew a walk in the bottom of the second but that was it for the Eagles in the home half. In the top of the third, it was a two out rally from the Cougars that extended their lead. The first two batters were set down before a walk, a wild pitch, and a single scored a run. UNW trailed 3-0.
The middle innings came and went without either team pushing any runs across the plate.
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights), UNW's game two starting pitcher, was simply lights out in the middle innings. He retired nine of the ten batters he faced in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. The only runner to reach came on an error.
The Eagles' dominance on the mound continued into the later innings but it came from a different source. Severson gave way to Hautajarvi who once again pitched in relief and was feeling fresh after only facing one batter in game one. Hautajarvi gave up some baserunners (four hits) but did what all good relievers do: made good pitches when he had to. The freshman ended the game having done his job. He pitched three scoreless innings and kept the Cougars at three runs.
Severson and Hautajarvi did what they needed to do and kept UNW in the ball game. UNW's offense went to work on doing their part to come away with a come from behind victory over one of the better teams in the UMAC.
Crabb began the bottom of the seventh inning with a walk and advanced to second base on a groundball. With two outs, Pilon came back up to the plate and delivered another clutch, two out, RBI single. This time his knock went to left centerfield and it scored Crabb. The seventh inning ended with the scoreboard reading 3-1 in favor of Minnesota-Morris.
After having gone scoreless in the eighth inning, UNW got a shot in the arm courtesy of
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) to start the ninth. It was an extremely windy day at Reynolds Field and any ball that got lifted into the cloudy sky immediately got knocked down. It was not a good day for power hitters. However, Bligh came up to the plate to lead off the ninth innings and lifted a ball high in the air to left field. The wind tried but couldn't knock it down. The ball sailed over the fence and triggered the home run siren that plays at Reynolds Field when the Eagles hit a ball over the wall. It was Bligh's first home run of the season and more importantly it brought the Eagles to within a run of the Cougars.
Despite the energy that Bligh injected into his dugout with his home run, UNW was unable to push one more run across the plate and fell to Morris 3-2.
Up Next
UNW now has an overall record of 7-13 and is 4-2 in UMAC play. There will be no rest for the weary as the Eagles play another trio of conference games this upcoming weekend when they host Martin Luther at Reynolds Field. Game one is scheduled for 3:00 PM on Friday, April 5
th.
