Baseball Takes Two from Northwestern

April 23, 2023

ST. PAUL, Minn.– The University of Minnesota Morris baseball team took an important step toward clinching a berth in the UMAC Tournament in a few weeks by defeating the University of Northwestern twice on Sunday. The Cougars rallied to take the opener, 4-3, in 11 innings, then blasted the Eagles by a score of 13-2 in the second game to win in seven innings. The two wins even the team’s record at 14-14 on the season, including 9-4 in the UMAC.

The Cougars are back in action on Tuesday against Crown College. Depending on field conditions, the game will either be held at Chizek Field or back at the University of Northwestern. A final determination will be made on Monday.

Game 1: Minnesota Morris 4, Northwestern 3 (11 innings)
The day’s first game was a pitcher’s duel between Brian Vanyo and UNW’s Aaron Severson, though ultimately both came away with no-decisions. Vanyo went 9.1 innings, working into the 10th inning before making way for Ryan Wilhelm to finish the game and move to 4-0 on the season.

Early on, Northwestern scored in the top of the first on a RBI single and then tacked on another run with a double-steal in the top of the second to go up, 2-0. After that, Vanyo was nearly untouchable. The Eagles went down in order in the third, fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth innings and his strong pitching allowed the Cougars to come back and tie the game.

A RBI groundout from Alex Baumann in the bottom of the fifth halved the Minnesota Morris deficit at 2-1. In the bottom of the seventh, Keegan Jonas drew a lead-off walk, then went to second on a passed ball and to third on an Evan Benson single before scoring on an error from the Northwestern catcher when Benson stole second.

In the top of the 10th inning, Vanyo exited with one down and the bases loaded, but Wilhelm answered the call and got two fly outs to end the threat. Northwestern would plate a run in the top of the 11th however, with Grady Karges connecting on a RBI single to give the Eagles the lead.

With two outs in the bottom of the 11th and facing the possibility of a second straight extra-innings defeat, Minnesota Morris buckled down and shocked the Eagles. Ashton Pauly started the rally by drawing a walk before Baumann beat out an infield single. Tyler Scheler then hit a gapper to right-center for a double and the two base runners sprinted home for the tying and winning runs.

Game 2: Minnesota Morris 13, Northwestern 2 (7 innings)
Northwestern put a run on the board in the top of the first, but the Cougars took over from there, scoring in each of the first five innings. Joey Reinarts (4-3) went the whole way, pitching 7.0 innings and scattering nine hits while striking out three to get the victory on the bump.

Four of those nine Northwestern hits came in the top of the first and Karges again had a RBI single before Reinarts got a double-play lineout to stop the threat.

In the bottom of the first, Baumann led off with a double and Pauly promptly hit a two-run blast to left to give Minnesota Morris a 2-1 lead that it never relinquished. In the second, A Ty Beasley single put a runner aboard for Benson and a double to left-center made it 3-1. Jonas doubled home two runs in the bottom of the third, followed by a Beasley RBI single to increase the margin to 6-1 heading to the fourth.

The Eagles tried to make a push in the fourth but were only able to score once, leaving it a 6-2 game heading to the bottom half of the frame. Scheler restored the Minnesota Morris five-run edge with a single that took advantage of Pauly’s two-out double.

The Cougars pushed the game out of reach in the bottom of the fifth with a six-run inning that included four hits and a pair of Northwestern errors. Beasley, Alex Goedhard, Baumann, Pauly, and Scheler collected RBIs in the inning as the bulge grew to 13-2.

In need of runs to keep the game going, Northwestern went down in order in the sixth and managed a two-out triple in the seventh before Reinarts got a flyout to finish the game early.

Pauly went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and four runs scored, while Beasley ended 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs. Baumann added a two-hit game – his second of the day – and scored two runs.

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