ORLANDO, Fla. – The Northland College Baseball team fell 21-2 to Mount St. Joseph University in the opening game of the MattRuss Tournament Tuesday afternoon in Orlando, Fla.
 
Claudio Aguilar started on the bump for the Jacks. The senior pitched a scoreless first with one strikeout. The Lions took the lead in the second with a two-run home run and would add three runs to close out the inning. Caden Willis would have the first hit for the Jacks in the bottom of the second.
 
MSJ would add more runs in the third to widen the lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Jay Harris reached first after getting hit by a pitch, and a groundball out by Jonjay Arreazola moved him to second. Tyler Murphy would reach on a fielder's choice to put runners on the corners. A strike out and batter's interference would end the scoring opportunity for the Jacks.
 
Matthew Traeger pitched the fourth inning for NC and had a one-two-three inning. Ridge Guyette had a lead-off triple in the bottom half of the inning. Peyton Solberg would score Guyette on a sac fly to right field. In the following inning, the Jacks were able to push another run across the plate. It started with Harris getting hit by another pitch and Parker Williams drawing a walk. Murphy put runner on the corners, and Ethan Boyce hit a single to right field, scoring Logan Grey-Ives, the pinch runner.
 
The two runs were not enough for Northland as they would fall to Mount St. Joseph in the first game of the MattRuss Tournament.
 
Northland had three hits in the contest, with Boyce and Willis recording singles and Guyette having his second triple of the season. Williams drew Northland's sole walk, and Harris and Andy Linder got a free pass after getting hit by a pitch.
 
Aguilar went 2.2 innings with one strikeout in the loss. Traeger led the team with three strikeouts.
 
The LumberJacks again tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11:30 a.m., against Trine University.
 
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 and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.