ST. PAUL, Minn. – The University of Northwestern Baseball team hosted its second doubleheader in as many days on Thursday when it welcomed conference foe Minnesota Morris to Reynolds Field. There was a twist; however, as Morris served as the home team for both games, and will again in Friday's solo game. The series was originally scheduled to take place in Morris, but was moved to St. Paul due to field condition issues. The Eagles overcame a 3-0 deficit in the first inning to win 12-6 in game one before falling 3-2 in a tight second tilt.
Game One
Northwestern drew first blood in the opening game when
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) doubled to lead off the game, then came around to score on a
Benji Bruce (Andover, Minn./Maranatha Christian) single. The Cougars answered right back in the bottom of the first inning, scoring three runs off UNW ace
Nick Drinken (Randolph, Minn./Randolph). The graduate student was able to settle down, as he did not allow another run until the fourth inning.
The same could not be said for the UMM starting pitcher.
Beau Rabey (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) and
Caleb Vereide (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) hit consecutive singles to lead off the top of the second inning, then Rabey scored courtesy of a
Logan Karnowski (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) single. Vereide came around on a sacrifice fly by Severson to make it a 3-3 game.
The Eagles continued their run of scoring in each inning in the third, doubling up their second-inning output in the process. Bruce hit another single to lead off the frame, which was followed by a
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) walk and a
Tony Greco (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig) single to load the bases. Rabey plated Bruce via a sacrifice fly to give Northwestern the lead, then Vereide came through with a double to score Hixon. A
Christian Raya (Moline, Ill./Moline) single brought Vereide and Greco home to complete the four-run inning and give UNW a 7-3 advantage.
The top of the fourth kept with the Eagles' trend, as they were able to tack on another run thanks to back-to-back-to-back singles from Hixon, Greco and Rabey, all with two outs. Minnesota Morris countered with a home run in the bottom half of the inning to pull within four, then was finally able to hold Northwestern scoreless in the top of the fifth.
UNW went back to its scoring ways in the sixth, as Hixon singled to lead off the inning and scored on another Raya single. Drinken shut down the Cougars in the bottom half, paving the way for the Eagles to break the game open for good in the seventh. Bligh began the explosion with a one-out double down the right field line, then advanced 90 feet on another Bruce single. Hixon hit a sac fly to score the Aussie, then Rabey belted a two-run triple to deep right field to make it 12-4.
Morris chipped away with one run in the seventh and another in the ninth, but as JoJo famously said, it was too little, too late, as the Eagles took game one of the three-game series by a 12-6 score behind 19 hits. The win put them at 4-0 to start UMAC play.
Rabey led the offensive output with a 4-5 showing and four RBI, including the late triple. Raya drove in three runs on two hits, while Greco and Bruce each added three hits, with the latter driving in one run. Vereide and Hixon each logged two hits and an RBI, while Severson and Karnowski added an RBI apiece.
Drinken moved to 3-0 on the season after striking out five in 7.0 innings of work.
Dreyer Homan (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY) relieved him and gave up zero earned runs and just two hits, while striking out two in 2.0 innings.
Game Two
After a combined 18 runs and 30 hits in game one, the law of averages correctly predicted game two would be a little less eventful. The game went scoreless through 4.5 innings despite
Christian Raya (Moline, Ill./Moline) getting into scoring position twice in that span. The first run of the game was scored by Minnesota Morris in the bottom of the fifth inning, and the Cougars added a second in the sixth.
Northwestern's bats woke up in the top of the seventh, sparked by
Caleb Vereide (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) leading off the inning with a single and advancing all the way to third base on a pair of balls that went to the backstop. Raya reached base again on a walk before
Tony Greco (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig) pinch hit and delivered with an RBI single to cut the deficit in half. Raya swiped third with
Logan Karnowski (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) at the plate, then the junior laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Raya and tie the game at two.
UNW appeared primed to take the lead in the top of the eighth inning when
Beau Rabey (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) doubled and moved
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) to third. However, a base-running miscue took Hixon out at third and a strikeout moments later ended the threat. Morris capitalized in the bottom half with a sacrifice fly to take a 3-2 lead, and shut down the Eagles in the ninth despite a pinch-hit single by
AJ Kazel (Esko, Minn./Esko).
No one from Northwestern recorded multiple hits in game two, but Raya reached base three times, including a double, and scored a run. Greco and Karnowski logged UNW's two RBI in the contest, while Rabey was responsible for the Eagles' other extra-base hit, a double.
Jayden King (Wahpeton, N.D./Wahepton Senior) suffered the loss on the mound despite a solid 5.0 innings in which he struck out four and only gave up five hits and two earned runs.
Up Next
The Eagles and Cougars will do battle one final time on Friday at 1:00 PM at Reynolds Field. Minnesota Morris will once again be the home team.
