RIVER FALLS, Wis. - Fresh off a weekend with plenty of "free baseball," the University of Northwestern Baseball team went into extra innings once again Tuesday at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, the Eagles' first true road game of the 2026 season. Despite committing eight errors compared to UWRF's zero, Northwestern was able to overcome a five-run deficit, scored three runs in the ninth inning to force extra innings, and even took the lead in the 10th before more defensive miscues led to the Falcons stealing a 13-12 win.
UW-River Falls jumped all over UNW in the first inning, racing out to a 5-0 lead. The Eagles got on the board in the top of the second after consecutive singles from
Parker Huebsch (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) and
Tony Greco (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig), and added another when Huebsch tagged up on a
Jeremiah Holmes (West Covina, Calif./San Dimas) sacrifice fly. UWRF added another pair of runs in the bottom of the second to make it 7-2, but Northwestern was able to trim the deficit to one in the top of the fourth inning. A Greco triple plated Huebsch, and the sophomore scored himself via an
Alex Klein (Olathe, Kans./Olathe Northwest) sac fly. UNW's freshmen then took over to produce the remaining two runs and make it 7-6; Holmes singled,
Davis Winter (Wausau, Wis./Wausau East) doubled and
Jack Burns (Plainfield, Ill./Aurora Christian) tripled, bringing both home.
The Falcons tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth to push the margin to two, and found two more in the sixth to make it 10-6. The Eagles' scorching-hot bats kept them in the game; however, as
Kason Pietruszewski (Warroad, Minn./Warroad) led off the top of the seventh with a single, Burns followed with a double, and then both scored when
Ben Hixon (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) singled to right-center field. Burns would eventually score on a fielder's choice off the bat of Huebsch to shrink the gap to 10-8.
River Falls was able to scrape another run across in the eighth inning to go ahead 11-8 with Northwestern having one more chance to bat. With one out on the board, the visitors rattled off four consecutive singles (Hixon,
AJ Kazel (Esko, Minn./Esko), Huebsch and Greco) to pull within one, and another Klein sacrifice fly tied the game at 11.
Alex Luepke (Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) was able to pitch a clean bottom half to send the game to extra innings, the Eagles' fourth time this season.
In the top of the 10th inning, Pietruszewski reached base via a walk, but was still on base with two outs. The freshman was able to steal second base and moved to third on a wild pitch before Hixon drew a walk. Head Coach
Jesse Eikum then drew up a gem of a play, as Hixon baited a throw to allow Pietruszewski to dash home and score the go-ahead run. Hixon would make it all the way to third base, but would be stranded there.
In the bottom of the frame, another error allowed runners to reach first and second base with nobody out.
Caleb Hautajarvi (Barnum, Minn./Barnum Secondary) came in to pitch and struck out the first batter he faced, then got the second to line out. Facing the final out, UWRF hit a grounder to short, but the Eagles were unable to get the ball flipped to second base, allowing the bases to fill. The next batter ripped a single down the third-base line to score the winning runs and walk off with a 13-12 win.
Greco led the offensive charge with a 3-5 day that included a triple and two RBI, while Burns logged two extra-base hits and a pair of RBI. Huebsch also drove in two runs on two hits, and Klein knocked in a pair as well. Hixon, Kazel and Holmes each recorded an RBI of their own, with Hixon and Pietruszewski tallying two hits apiece. While he ended up taking the loss on the mound Luepke was fantastic in relief, allowing zero earned runs and just one hit, while striking out four in three innings of work.
Northwestern is scheduled to visit Crown on Friday, April 3rd to begin a three-game series, as long as weather allows. Stay tuned to unweagles.com for any and all schedule updates.
