De PERE, Wis. – The Northland College Baseball team split the doubleheader with St. Norbert College, winning game one 13-4 and then dropping game two 0-10 Monday afternoon in De Pere, Wis.
The Green Knights took the lead in the bottom of the first with a solo home run. Northland would respond in the following inning. After two quick outs,
Bryce Smith reached first with a single and
Mychal Castillo followed suit.
Tyler Murphy would drive in the first run for the Jacks with a single and put runners on the corners for
Ridge Guyette. Guyette would add to the scoring with a two-run double. Guyette would score the final run of the inning after scoring on an error to put Northland up 4-1.
St. Norbert started to make some noise in the fourth. The Green Knights would score three runs with two out to level the game at four.
Jonjay Arreazola reached in the fifth after an infield single. The freshman would then reach third base on a throwing error by the catcher. Smith would score Arreazola with a fielder's choice and would make his way to second an error. Murphy would add another run to the total, and Guyette would follow with a single to put two on for
Nathan Davison. An error kept the inning alive as Murphy would make the score 7-4. A
Caden Willis ground-rule double made it a five-run inning for Northland and forced a pitching change.
Vinny Cooney would drive in the final run of the inning for NC to increase its lead to 10-4 after the top of the fifth.
Northland continued the momentum in the bottom half as
Claudio Aguilar would pitch a one-two-three inning.
Arreazola picked up where the team left off to start the sixth inning with a leadoff single. With Smith on first, Castillo would single to move him to third, and a wild pitch brought Smith home. With two outs, the LumberJacks would load the bases, but a great grab by the diving SNC shortstop ended the inning.
After a scoreless seventh, Northland would start the scoring again in the eighth. Willis came to the dish with two on and had a bases-clearing single to increase the lead to nine.
Peyton Solberg would come on to pitch the final two innings for the LumberJacks. The senior would retire all six batters he faced to give Northland the 13-4 victory.
The Jacks recorded 17 hits in their game one victory. Castillo led the team, going 4-for-6, Smith followed with a three-hit performance, and Murphy, Guyette, and Willis all had a pair of hits. Willis paced NC with four RBIs, while Smith and Guyette scored three runs.
Aguilar earned his first collegiate win after tossing seven innings. He finished the game with seven hits, three strikeouts, four earned runs, and one walk. Aguilar had three innings where he only faced three batters. Solberg pitched innings eight and nine and faced the minimum six batters, while striking out one.
The hot streak did not continue to game two as Northland would drop the contest 0-10 in seven innings.
The Jacks recorded four hits, with
Andy Linder having a double and single, and Davison and Willis had the other base knocks. On the mound, Northland had seven pitchers enter the game.
Kazdion Mount had the most success, throwing two innings without giving up an earned run and striking out two batters.
The LumberJacks will host North Central University for their home opener scheduled for Friday at 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 and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
