ST. PAUL, Minn. –
Christian Raya (Moline, Ill./Moline) continues to rake. The sophomore two-way player for the University of Northwestern Baseball team delivered when his team needed him most on Friday at Reynolds Field, blasting a sixth-inning grand slam to put the Eagles back in the lead for good in game one of this weekend's series with Northland College. It was an electric, back-and-forth start to the final series the two schools will play, ending in a 7-4 win for UNW.
While
Nick Drinken (Randolph, Minn./Randolph) took a perfect game into the fourth inning, Northwestern's offense began cooking early. An error and two walks loaded the bases with two outs for the Eagles in the bottom of the first, then a wild pitch allowed
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) to score the first run of the game. Two more walks brought in the second run, then
Matthew Ortin (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) lined a single to left for his first career hit and RBI to put UNW ahead, 3-0, after one.
Benji Bruce (Andover, Minn./Maranatha Christian) hit a one-out double in the second inning, but was stranded there.
Northland's starting pitcher settled in to hold Northwestern scoreless in innings 2-4, then its bats showed up in a big way in the top of the fifth. Not only did the LumberJacks break up Drinken's perfect game, but they went on to produce four runs to suddenly put the visitors ahead, 4-3. In the bottom of the sixth, the Eagles were able to rally. They loaded the bases for Raya with two outs thanks to a walk and two hit batters, then the sophomore did the rest. A bomb over the elevated left-field wall put UNW ahead, 7-4 which would ultimately turn out to be the final score. The grand slam was the first of Raya's career and Northwestern's second this season. He now leads the team in home runs this season with three.
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) followed up Raya's dinger with a double to the corner in left field, but the inning ended one batter later.
The rest of the game finished without much fanfare besides Drinken bouncing back from the tough fifth inning to go the distance, strike out seven and get the win (5-0). Ortin was the lone Eagle to tally multiple hits (2-4), and produced his first collegiate RBI. Raya (4) and
Logan Karnowski (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) (1) were responsible for UNW's other RBI, while Bruce and Hixon added the other two extra-base hits aside from Raya's grand slam.
The Eagles and Jacks will play two more games to close out the series on Saturday, beginning at 1:00 PM at Reynolds Field.
