ASHLAND, Wis. – The Northland College Baseball team fell in its final home games at LumberJack Field 3-14 and 11-12 to North Central University in Upper Midwest Athletic Conference play Saturday in Ashland, Wis.
After the game, the 15 seniors were honored for Senior Day.
In game one, the Jacks got off to a great start.
Tyler Murphy reached after getting hit by a pitch. Murphy advanced on a wild pitch and then stole third.
Ridge Guyette drove in the first run of the game with a single. Northland doubled its lead in the following inning.
Jonjay Arreazola singled and stole second to get in scoring position for Murphy, who drove him home.
The lead would not last into the third as the Rams would hang a five-spot after the top half was done. The Jacks would get one back after
Nathan Davison's RBI single to left field, but NCU would have another big inning in the sixth to go up 9-3. Northland would not push another run home as they fell in game one 14-3.
Northland recorded seven hits in the contest, with Davison and Arreazola totaling a team-high two. Murphy, Guyette, and
Caden Willis had the other three. Davison, Murphy, and Guyette all had an RBI while Murphy, Guyette, and Arreazola scored a run.
On the mound,
Anthony Boyle got the start and threw five innings, striking out four.
Kazdion Mount,
Dezmon LeTexier,
Austin Tellefsen, and
Aidan Hernandez all made pitching appearances.
Game two looked like it was going to end similarly to game one as the Rams jumped out to a 12-2 lead after the fourth.
In the sixth, the LumberJacks started to make some noise. Northland loaded the bases after three walks, drawn by Arreazola,
Mychal Castillo, and
Bryce Smith. Another walk scored the first run of the inning. Guyette would bring two more home after he singled up the middle. The Jacks would tack on another run in the eighth after an RBI single from
Vinny Cooney.
Northland entered the bottom of the ninth trailing 12-6. After a ground out,
Elijah Myers drew a walk, followed by a single from LeTexier and
Jay Harris getting hit by a pitch to juice the bases.
Andy Linder and
Parker Williams drew walks to bring the deficit to four. A strikeout had the Jacks down to their final out. Boyle would hit a ball to the left side, but an error would keep the inning alive as the lead shrank to two. Willis would single to the shortstop, scoring one run and putting runners on the corners. Willis then stole second to get the winning run in scoring position. However, the scoring stopped there as a groundout to third baseman ended the game with a final score of 11-12.
In the final game at LumberJack Field, Northland would tally 12 hits, while also drawing 10 walks. Murphy, Guyette, Willis, Arreazola, and LeTexier would all have a multiple-hit game. Smith would draw a team-high two walks. Willis and Guyette led the team with two RBIs, with Smith scored twice.
Claudio Aguilar would start the game on the bump, going three and two-thirds innings, racking up three strikeouts. Hernandez came in the get the final out of the fourth.
Peyton Solberg would pitch the final five innings for NC, only giving up two hits and striking up seven batters.
The LumberJacks play their final series next weekend as they travel to Martin Luther College with the series 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.
