ST. PAUL, Minn. – As if this week's baseball series between the University of Northwestern and University of Minnesota Morris wasn't already baked in chaos, Friday's series finale all but confirmed it. Northwestern jumped all over the Cougars with a nine-run first inning and took a 13-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth, but found itself up just one run when the sixth inning concluded. The Eagles were able to settle down; however, and come away with a 16-12 win to take the series and move to 5-1 in UMAC games.
UNW wasted no time setting the tone for the series' rubber match.
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights), Northwestern's starting pitcher, helped his own cause with a double to lead off the game.
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) then singled, and
Benji Bruce (Andover, Minn./Maranatha Christian) reached base on an error to load the bases for
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville). The third baseman hit an RBI single to right field, then
Tony Greco (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig) did the exact same thing in the next at-bat.
Beau Rabey (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) was next up and cleared the bases with his first career grand slam to make it 6-0 before Morris was able to record an out. Once UMM finally found that elusive first out,
Christian Raya (Moline, Ill./Moline) and
Logan Karnowski (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) hit back-to-back singles. Bligh brought them both home with a triple down the right field line, then scored when Bruce doubled to left. The inning ended with the Eagles holding a 9-0 advantage.
The scoring took a break until the top of the third inning when Severson clubbed another double, plating Karnowski from first base. Northwestern's next chance came in the top of the fifth, and was also started by Karnowski. The right fielder reached base on an error to lead off the frame, then advanced to second via a Severson single. Bligh drove Karnowski in with a single of his own, then Hixon hit an RBI single to plate
AJ Kazel (Esko, Minn./Esko), who had come on to pinch run for Bligh. Bruce scored the final run of the inning on a groundout to extend UNW's lead to 13-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth.
That is when all…heck broke loose. Minnesota Morris registered 13 plate appearances in the inning to produce its own nine-run frame, mirroring Northwestern's first inning. Reynolds Field was left stunned as the game had become tight in the blink of an eye. The Eagles got a runner to third in the top of the sixth, but wasn't able to knock him in. UMM made things even more interesting in the bottom half, tacking on three more runs to pull within a run at 13-12.
To UNW's credit, it showed incredible resiliency to stop the avalanche of momentum that the Cougars had garnered. Northwestern began the top of the seventh inning with singles from Bruce and Hixon. Rabey laced a one-out single to center field to load the bases, and
Caleb Vereide (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) delivered a sacrifice fly to add an insurance run and increase the lead to two. After Raya stranded two Cougars in scoring position in the seventh, he helped his own cause with his first collegiate home run.
Caleb Hautajarvi (Barnum, Minn./Barnum Secondary) scored the final run of the game courtesy of a
Benji Bruce (Andover, Minn./Maranatha Christian) single, after singling himself. Raya finished the job on the mound with two more scoreless innings to clinch the 16-12 win for the Eagles.
Five different Eagles finished the game with three hits. Bligh did so while driving in three RBI; Bruce, Hixon and Greco each had two RBI and Severson one. Rabey brought in four runs on his grand slam and finished the game with two hits, as did Raya, including his homer. Vereide tallied the other UNW RBI. Raya impressed both at the plate and on the bump, where he earned his first career win after throwing three scoreless innings and striking out three.
After playing five games in three days, Northwestern will finally have a couple days of rest before hosting Macalester College on Monday, March 31
st at 4:00 PM (weather pending). Stay tuned to unweagles.com, and follow @unweagles and @UNWBaseball on X for updates on all things Eagle baseball.
