MANKATO, Minn. - The final weekend of the UMAC baseball regular season began Friday with an immense amount of hype, as the top four teams, and UMAC Tournament qualifiers, are all in action across two series. One of those series is taking place in Mankato, where the University of Northwestern is taking on Bethany Lutheran College in a three-game slate that will, in some form or fashion, determine the regular season conference champion. The Vikings, who continue to receive votes in the national top-25 polls, proved why with a seven-inning, 10-0 win over UNW that invoked the run rule.
The Eagles were only able to muster two hits in the game, and they came in consecutive at-bats from
Kason Pietruszewski (Warroad, Minn./Warroad) and
Braden Storts (Minnetonka, Minn./Minnetonka) in the top of the first inning. Northwestern got a runner in scoring position in the second, but did not get another base runner until a walk in the top of the seventh, as BLC ace Aidan Byrd pitched a gem. Bethany was mostly methodical in its scoring, plating one run apiece in the first, second and seventh innings, two in the fourth, and adding a five-run explosion in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
Dreyer Homan (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY) took the loss on the mound despite striking out eight in five innings. The senior surrendered five earned runs, eight hits and four walks in his final regular-season outing.
Northwestern and Bethany Lutheran will play a doubleheader on Saturday to close out the conference schedule, beginning at 1:00 PM.
