ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – After a monumental upset over No. 25 Bethel University last week, the University of Northwestern Baseball team got another chance to take on the Royals in its final non-conference games of the 2025 season on Wednesday. Bethel, playing at home in this iteration of the rivalry, was able to exact revenge on the Eagles by sweeping the seven-inning doubleheader with wins of 4-0 and 14-2.
Game One
One swing of the bat separated the two rivals in game one of the afternoon. A grand slam in the bottom of the second inning gave Bethel the 4-0 lead that would hold for the remainder of the contest. Northwestern tallied three total hits in the game, from
Benji Bruce (Andover, Minn./Maranatha Christian),
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) and
Bryce Campbell (New Hope, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong), but was not able to get anyone into scoring position.
Noah Skarda (Nipomo, Calif./St. Joseph's) pitched all six innings for UNW and was phenomenal outside of the blemish in the second inning.
Game Two
The Eagles' non-conference finale provided a chance for Head Coach
Jesse Eikum to have some fun with the lineup, in which he started nine seniors/graduates and played several at different positions than usual. Notably, ace pitcher
Nick Drinken (Randolph, Minn./Randolph) got the start at second base. One could say Drinken's presence in the batting order was Northwestern's good luck charm, as the one inning he batted produced the team's only two runs of the game.
Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) and
Benji Bruce (Andover, Minn./Maranatha Christian) each walked to get on base, and both scored when
Gabriel Kennedy (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) clubbed a double to left-center field, giving UNW an early 2-0 edge.
Graduate catcher
Cal Johnson (Lino Lakes, Minn./Concordia Academy) recorded his first hit of the season in the top of the second inning, but the Royals began chipping away from then on out, beginning with a run in the bottom of the second. They added five runs in the fourth to take the lead, and five more in the fifth to make it 11-2.
Mark Bligh (Sydney, Australia/Magdalene Catholic College) and
Beau Rabey (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) both singled in the top of the sixth inning to get a runner in scoring position, but nothing came of it. After three more Bethel runs in the bottom of the sixth, the Eagles let pitchers
Kaleb Dube (Minneapolis, Minn./Hope Academy) and
Noah Skarda (Nipomo, Calif./St. Joseph's) try their hands at the plate in the seventh, and the latter drew a two-out walk to reach base before the Royals closed out the 14-2 win.
Bruce, Bligh, Rabey and Johnson all singled in the game, while Kennedy's two-run double was the only extra-base hit for UNW.
Jackson Moore (San Bruno, Calif./Capuchino) got the start on the mound and pitched solid in a no-decision effort, surrendering just three hits and one run in 2.0 innings.
Up Next
Northwestern will close out the regular season with a three-game series against Crown, beginning at 3:00 PM on Friday at Reynolds Field. Each team is one win away from clinching a berth in the UMAC Tournament.
