MORRIS, Minn. – The Northland College Baseball team fell in the doubleheader to the University of Minnesota, Morris 25-9 and 28-17 in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference play Saturday in Morris, Minn.
The LumberJacks and Cougars played a marathon of a doubleheader spanning close to eight hours and combining for 79 runs in 14 innings.
In the opening game, the Cougars put up 12 in the first inning. That did not stop the Jacks as they started to chip away at the lead.
Hunter Wicklund drew a walk with the base load for the first run for Northland.
Tyler Murphy followed it up with a sac fly scoring
Jay Harris.
Vinny Troccoli continued his strong series with a two-run RBI double to cut the lead to 4-12.
In Troccoli's next at-bat, he sent his third ball over the wall for a two-run shot to within six. Later in the inning Northland loaded the bases and Harris saw four balls to earn an RBI on the walk.
Caden Willis scored the next run to pull within four after trailing by 12.
The Cougars responded with five runs to balloon their lead in the bottom of the fourth. Northland pushed one more across the plate but it was not enough as UMM scored eight in the fifth to win 25-9.
From the nine runs, Northland had seven knocks. Murphy, Troccoli, and
Matt Simpson paced the team with two hits. Troccoli finished the game with four RBIs, 12 in the first two games against the Cougars.
Claudio Aguilar had a good showing on the mound, in his relief appearance he struck out three batters while not allowing a run.
After a 34-run game, the Jacks and Cougars combined for 45 through seven innings.
The Jacks struck first in game two with Simpson scoring Wicklund in the opening frame. UMM followed that up with two runs.
Next came the second inning with 20 runs. Northland scored 10 runs in small ways from walks and singles, all adding up. The Cougars matched the 10 runs by NC to regain a one-run lead. The following inning Morris expanded its lead to three from a two-run home run.
Simpson picked up his fourth RBI of the game with a sac fly to make the score 12-16 in the fifth. Through the final two innings, Northland scored five more runs to end the game but UMM put up 12 to end the game28-17.
Northland tied its season-high 13 hits with Murphy and
Bryce Smith pacing the team with three. Simpson, Willis, and
Anthony Boyle also had a multiple-hit game with two. Both of Simpson's hits were doubles. Simpson had a team-high four RBIs with Smith behind him with three. Murphy, Smith, and
Kazdion Mount all swiped a bag.
Northland pitching recorded seven strikes with Smith recording three in his inning of work.
The Jacks have a short turn around playing a doubleheader against Maranatha Baptist on Tuesday with first pitch slated for 3 p.m.
Northland College is an NCAA Division III institution located in Ashland, WI. The LumberJacks and LumberJills sponsor 14 varsity sports and compete in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, Midwest Lacrosse Conference, and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
