ST. PAUL, Minn. - The University of Northwestern opened its doors to North Central University on Friday, allowing the Rams to serve as the home team when the teams' UMAC opener relocated to Reynolds Field due to not-yet-playable field conditions at NCU's home field in Maple Grove.
Dreyer Homan (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY) wound up shutting the door on North Central, striking out nine in seven innings as the Eagles opened up conference play with a 5-1 victory as the visitors on their home field.
Northwestern got on the board in the top of the first inning when a
Parker Huebsch (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) groundout scored
Davis Winter (Wausau, Wis./Wausau East) from third, who wound up 90 feet from home after a
Braden Storts (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka) single to the right-field corner. After Homan struck out the side in the bottom of the second, UNW added another run from Winter, this time courtesy of a
Tony Greco (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig) sacrifice fly. The Eagles also plated a pair of runs in the fourth, when a trio of singles from
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville),
Christian Raya (Moline, Ill./Moline) and
Jeremiah Holmes (West Covina, Calif./San Dimas) brought the first two home to make it a 4-0 game. The Rams answered with an RBI single in the bottom of the frame, but would not score again. Northwestern scored the game's final run in the top of the fifth when a Hixon sacrifice fly scored Greco to extend the lead to 5-1.
Caleb Hautajarvi (Barnum, Minn./Barnum Secondary) relieved Homan for the final two innings and did not allow a hit, while striking out four.
Winter and
Jack Burns (Plainfield, Ill./Aurora Christian) each logged a pair of hits to lead UNW, while Huebsch, Greco and Hixon drove in one run apiece. Holmes led the way with a pair of RBI on his single. Homan allowed just five hits and a run in seven innings, while striking out seven. Hautajarvi walked two but allowed zero hits and struck out four in his two innings of relief.
The Eagles and Rams will conclude their series with a doubleheader on Saturday at a 74-degree Reynolds Field, beginning at 1:00 PM.
