ASHLAND, Wis. - Northland College (16-21, 12-7 UMAC) was able to hold off a late come back from Martin Luther College and win 7-6 clinching a berth into the UMAC Tournament.

"I'm really proud of our guys," commented head coach Ernie May after the game.  "To get back to the tournament is great and I'm just so proud of this group of guys.  We've got a couple games yet this weekend and we'll see where we are heading into next week."

The Knights opened the game with a run in the first inning but the Jacks were able to answer back in the bottom half of the opening frame.  Freshman outfielder Jakob Freele and senior outfielder Jacob Hodgdon opened the game with a walk and single, respectively, and were moved over with a sacrifice bunt from junior outfielder Mitch Howard.  Senior shortstop Matt Lennon then hit both runners in with a single for the early 2-1 lead.  The bottom of the order then kept the inning alive starting with a two out RBI single from freshman second baseman Matt Alberino.  Freshman third baseman Alex Elliott followed that up with a single himself with freshman Will Serviss knocked in a run with a single to give Northland a 4-1 advantage.

An RBI double for Martin Luther in the top half of the third cut the Jacks lead to 4-2 before Northland put up another crooked number in the sixth.

Alberino and Elliott opened the bottom half of the sixth with singles before Serviss used a sacrifice fly to bring the score to 5-1.  Freele then found a barrell for a two out double to score Elliott with Freele later scoring on a single from Howard to give the LumberJacks a 7-2 advantage.

The Knights were able to cut into the deficit in the seventh with a two out double putting the score at 7-3.

In the ninth, Martin Luther was able to take advantage of a pair of LumberJack errors and bring the score to a 7-5 ballgame with the bases loaded and the tying run on second with two outs.  A clutch single to centerfield for Martin Luther gave the Knights an opportunity to tie the ballgame but a perfectly thrown ball to the plate from Hodgdon nailed the runner and ended the game with a 7-6 final.

Senior pitcher Kyle Strom (7-4) threw the complete game for Northland scattering 11 hits only giving up two earned runs with a pair of strikeouts.

The bottom of the order for Northland came up big with the 6-9 hitters going 6-12 in the game with three runs batted in.

Hodgdon, Alberino, Elliott and Serviss each had multiple hits in the game with Lennon and Serviss each driving in a pair of runs.

Northland finishes the series with Martin Luther tomorrow, Saturday, May 2nd with a doubleheader starting at noon.  The Jacks will look to clinch the two seed for the second consecutive season.