The LumberJacks opened 2016 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference play on Sunday against the Vikings of Bethany Lutheran College.  The game was the UMAC game of the week between two playoff teams from a year ago.  The Jacks swept the Vikings 9-5 and 10-7 to start conference play 2-0. 
In game one Northland jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1^st when Alex Elliott hit a two run homer, bringing home Mitch Howard who had singled earlier in the inning.  Bethany scored in the bottom of the 2^nd inning, while the Jacks scored two more in the 5^th.   Xavier Baez-Ortiz walked and Jake Morris singled, both of them moved up on a groundout, and then scored on a Howard single.  The Vikings had a big 6^th inning scoring 4 runs to put them up 5-4. 
The LumberJacks kept pushing and scored in each of the final innings while holding the Vikings scoreless.  Northland scored two in the 7^th, John Aguirre walked, moved up on a groundout, then stole third, and scored on a throwing error by the Viking catcher.  Jakob Freele then scored on a Howard double.  In the 8^th the Jacks scored two more on a Baez-Ortiz homerun extend the lead to 8-5.  Then they scored one more insurance run in the top of the 9^th when Howard collected his fourth hit of the game with a triple, scoring on Elliott's RBI double to put the Jacks up 9-5.  In the bottom of the 9^th, the Vikings would get two baserunners, but were unable to get anyone across the plate.
Howard lead the Jacks in game one going 4-5 with three RBIs, Elliott and Morris each had two hits.  Dylan Porter got the win for the Jacks going 3.1 innings giving up two hits, and no runs while striking out two.
In game two the Jacks bats stayed hot scoring 10 runs.  The Northland offense started with two runs in the 2^nd, Freele would double scoring Will Serviss and Edouard Bosseloo.  Bethany would score one run in both the 4^th and 5^th inning.  The Jacks would score two more in the 5^th on an RBI double by Elliottt scoring Howard who had tripled to lead off the inning.  Elliottt would then score on a Paden Kottwitz sacrifice fly.  In the top of 6^th, Bosseloo would double and score on a Viking error, while Bethany would score two runs to take the lead 6-5.  In the 7^th Elliottt would hit a home run to left center to tie the game up at 6-6.  The score would remain that way until the 9^th, when the Jacks would pick up four runs starting with another Elliottt homerun.  Aguirre would hit a three RBI double to score Serviss, Baez-Ortiz and Booseloo to put Northland up 10-6 going into the home half of the 9^th.  The Vikings were able to get two hits and put one run up on the board, but that was not enough as the Jacks were able to complete the sweep with a 10-7 win in game two. 
Elliottt had three hits including two homeruns and three RBIs, Bosseloo also had three hits in the game.  Dylan Porter picked up his second win on the day going 2.1 innings allowing only one earned run and striking out two.  Jacob Smith picked up his first save of the season.
LumberJack coach Nick Weinmeister praised the team after the sweep, "To start conference play, I couldn't be happier with the performance our guys put forth today! Knowing we were facing a team preseason picked ahead of us and having it this weekend picked as the conference game of the week, it really fueled us to Come out and make a statement. We really executed in all phases and beat a good team twice at their place which is a testament to how well we played. We came out prepared for a battle and that's exactly what we got. We came up with some big hits and were able to withstand their runs. To come out of the first conference weekend without a loss really sets us up well moving forward!"
 
The LumberJacks are scheduled to be back in action on Tuesday as they take on UW-Superior with a doubleheader at LumberJack Field.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:30pm.