MANKATO, Minn. – The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament always seems to produce some entertaining and wild games, and the opener of the 2026 edition was no exception. The University of Northwestern fell behind the University of Wisconsin-Superior early, took a sizable lead in the middle and squandered it to the tune of an 11-8 loss, thanks in large part to a Herculean effort at the plate from UWS slugger Tanner Voight, who hit two home runs, two doubles, and drove in seven runs to put the Eagles on the brink of elimination.
After UNW went scoreless in the top of the first inning, Voight did his first damage of the day, slugging a three-run homer to center field to take a quick, 3-0 lead on Northwestern ace
Dreyer Homan (Clara City, Minn./MACCRAY). Northwestern got on the board via a home run of its own, off the bat of
Davis Winter (Wausau, Wis./Wausau East) in the top of the third. In the fourth,
Parker Huebsch (Woodbury, Minn./New Life Academy) led off with a double and scored on a
Solomon Kardell (Coon Rapids, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy) single to trim the deficit to one.
The deficit was erased entirely in the fifth inning when Winter scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded, and the Eagles took the lead shortly thereafter, courtesy of a
Tony Greco (Janesville, Wis./Janesville Craig) sacrifice fly. The fifth-inning scoring surge continued with another wild pitch run, followed by a two-run single from
Alex Klein (Olathe, Kans./Olathe Northwest) to make it a 7-3 UNW lead.
Superior scored on a fielder's choice in the bottom of the fifth to pull within three, and really made its mark in the sixth. Already with a three-run home run and two doubles to his credit, Voight launched a grand slam over the left field wall to emphatically give the Yellowjackets a 10-7 lead they would not relinquish. Northwestern started to chip away in the eighth when Winter and
Kason Pietruszewski (Warroad, Minn./Warroad) began the inning with a single and a double, respectively. Huebsch brought Winter home with a sac fly, but the Eagles would be held scoreless the rest of the way, and UW-Superior added one more insurance run with a home run in the bottom of the eighth to win, 11-8, and advance to the winner's bracket on Friday.
Winter paced UNW's offense, going 2-3 at the plate with a home run, one RBI and three runs scored. Klein recorded three hits and drove in two, while Huebsch, Greco and Kardell each tallied one RBI apiece, with Huebsch supplying a double. Pietruszewski logged two hits as well, including a double. Homan was credited with the loss after surrendering nine runs and 11 hits in 5.1 innings, while striking out three.
Caleb Hautajarvi (Barnum, Minn./Barnum Secondary) pitched the final 2.2 innings, striking out four and giving up two runs.
The Eagles will face the loser of tonight's Bethany Lutheran-Minnesota Morris game in an elimination game on Friday at noon.
