ST. PAUL, Minn. – Sadly, Saturday was the final time the University of Northwestern and Northland College Baseball teams will ever face each other. But boy, did the two UMAC foes make the most of it. Producing a total of 48 runs across the two games, the Eagles and LumberJacks kept those in attendance at Reynolds Field glued to their seats (when they weren't jumping out of them in celebration). Northwestern took game one by an 18-10 score and then rallied from seven-down to win game two, 13-12, in walk-off fashion.
Game One
UNW got going early in the first game of the day. The Eagles loaded the bases with two outs, and
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) cleared them with a three-run triple to right field. Hixon came around to score on a
Beau Rabey (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) double to give Northwestern a 4-0 advantage after one inning. The lead grew to 6-0 in the second when
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) doubled home
Benji Bruce (Andover, Minn./Maranatha Christian) and
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights), who had just hit his second single in as many innings.
Tony Greco (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig) and Bligh traded places via an RBI double by the freshman catcher, extending the lead to 7-0 after two.
Northland's bats got hot in the third inning, as the Jacks put up a five spot to pull within two. To their dismay, UNW wasn't finished scoring either. Rabey and
Bryce Campbell (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong), in his first game back from injury, began the inning with consecutive doubles. Campbell wound up scoring on a passed ball, then Bruce singled Severson home moments later to make it 10-5, Eagles, through just three innings of play.
The LumberJacks were able to hold Northwestern scoreless in the fourth inning, but the fifth was a different story.
Logan Karnowski (Blaine, Minn./Blaine) and Severson hit back-to-back singles to start the inning, then a walk and a hit batter plated Karnowski.
Christian Raya (Moline, Ill./Moline), who hit his first career grand slam Friday night against Northland, stepped into the batter's box and gave the fans a case of déjà vu, blasting his second grand slam in as many games over the left-field fence to make it 15-5. UNW went on to load the bases again later in the inning, but weren't able to push any additional runs across.
The Jacks weren't done trying to claw back, as three runs in the top of the seventh inning made it a 15-9 ballgame. The Eagles, who were seemingly in control throughout the entirety of the game, put things out of reach in the bottom of the eighth. Raya roped a single into left, then scored on an RBI double off the right-field wall by
Alex Christian (Andover, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy).
Eli Reeves (White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake Area) pinch ran for Christian and came around to score when
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) singled to left field, then Hixon scored himself when
Beau Rabey (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) hit his fourth double of the game. Northland scored one more run in the ninth, but
Charlie Hodge (Menahga, Minn./Menahga) shut the door to give UNW an 18-10 win to clinch the series.
Rabey had a field day, going 5-6 with four doubles and two RBI. Hixon and Raya each had two hits and four RBI thanks to their triple and grand slam, respectively. Severson finished with three hits, while Bligh (3 RBI) and Greco (1 RBI) each added two.
Jayden King (Wahpeton, N.D./Wahepton Senior) earned the win on the mound, giving up just one earned run in 5.0 innings of work.
Game Two
The series finale turned out to be one of those games where you swear both teams are just trying to play mind games with the sports information department. That being said, it could only be described using two words: instant classic. After a scoreless first inning, Northland exploded for seven runs in the top of the second, leaving Reynolds Field in shock. Knowing they may not be able to get the seven runs back quickly, the Eagles bounced back and started to chip away in the bottom half, as a two-run homer from
Tony Greco (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig) made it a 7-2 game.
Northwestern continued to chip away with another run in the third inning thanks to a sacrifice fly from
Christian Raya (Moline, Ill./Moline), then added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Alex Christian (Andover, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy) began the effort with a one-out double and advanced to third on a
Bryce Campbell (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) single, then both Eagles scored when
Benji Bruce (Andover, Minn./Maranatha Christian) singled into center field.
In the bottom of the sixth inning,
Caleb Vereide (Owatonna, Minn./Owatonna) led off with a double out of the nine-hole. After advancing to third with two outs,
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) singled the junior home to pull within one at 7-6. You could feel the momentum continue in the home team's favor with three innings to play. To the LumberJacks' credit, they rejected the momentum shift, tacking on five runs in the top of the seventh to once again quiet the passionate, purple faithful.
With just six outs separating Northland and its first conference win of 2025, UNW dug deep to find its much-needed rally. Bruce ripped a two-out, two-run home run to left-center field to kick things off, then Bligh blasted his own homer over the elevated fence in left just a few pitches later to throw the crowd into a frenzy. After Raya was hit by a pitch, Greco and
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) hit back-to-back doubles to suddenly make it a 12-11 game. After a pitching change, Christian hit a grounder to second base that appeared to be an inning-ender. The ball was bobbled and Hixon , who was in a dead sprint from the sound of the bat, was able to hustle all the way home from second to tie it at 12 entering the ninth inning.
Dreyer Homan (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY) shut down the Northland bats for the second inning in a row, which set the table for a potential walk-off win for Northwestern in the bottom of the ninth. Vereide led off the inning by lacing his second double of the game to left field, then Rabey bunted and wound up singling while moving Vereide 90 feet to third base. Bruce, who started the comeback with his eighth-inning dinger, hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Vereide and walk off with a 13-12 win to move into a first-place tie atop the UMAC with Bethany Lutheran, who lost its first conference game of the season on Saturday.
Bruce finished the game 2-4 with the home run and five RBI, while Greco went 3-5 with a homer, a double and three RBI. Bligh and Christian also went 3-5, with the senior logging a home run and two RBI, and the sophomore a double and one RBI. While his grand slam streak came to an end (despite two more plate appearances with the bases full), Raya did add one RBI. Vereide's two doubles came at crucial times to help spark Northwestern's comeback. Homan got the win on the mound after pitching 2.1 much-needed shutout innings.
UNW will host UW-River Falls on Tuesday at 4:00 PM.
