Northwestern/Midland Baseball Preview

Game Time... Northwestern faces Midland Lutheran at 4:30 pm on Wednesday in Fremont.

Scouting Midland... Midland enters the game third in the GPAC with a 8-6 conference record.  The Warriors have a team batting average of .289 and are led by Nolan Koehn, who is hitting .440.  Koehn leads Midland in average, hits (44), home runs (7), and RBI (37).  Tim Jacoby is hitting .371, Austin Hubbard is hitting .338, and Adam Stouffer is hitting .326.  Jacoby leads Midland in runs scored with 31 and he also leads the team with nine doubles.  In GPAC games only, Koehn has a .467 average with 15 RBI and four homeruns.  Midland boasts a .289 team average in GPAC games only and has outscored their opponents 67-55.  

Mike Burdine leads the Warriors on the mound with a 4-1 record and has a team best 2.86 ERA in 44 innings.  He has pitched four complete games in seven starts and has only allowed eight walks.  Reliever TJ Stosich has a 3.18 ERA and two saves in twelve appearances.  Lefty Anthony Vecchio, the other Warrior probable starter is 2-3 in seven starts with a 6.11 ERA.  Midland enters today's doubleheader with a team ERA of 5.91.  In GPAC games only, Burdine is 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA and Vecchio is 2-1 with a 3.60 ERA.  Midland's ERA in GPAC games only is 4.37. 

Red Raider Notes...  Northwestern banged out 33 hits in 11 offensive innings on Monday, defeating Dana 15-6 and 14-4 while moving to a GPAC best 12-2. Northwestern got homeruns from Grant Wall, Justin Boersma, and two from Codie Zeutenhorst.  Zeutenhorst and Wall each had six hits on the day while Jake Jansen was 4-4 with three walks.  Joe Heitritter was 5-6 and scored five runs.  For the season Jansen leads the Red Raiders with a .417 batting average, Grant Wall is hitting .394 and has scored 31 runs.  Seniors Heitritter and Zeutenhorst are hitting .384 and .368 while Kent Drickey checks in at .350, Brad Payne at .342, and Austin Malone .320.  Northwestern's team average is .314 through 28 games.  In GPAC games only, Zeutenhorst is hitting at a .458 clip with 19 RBI.  Wall, Jansen, and Heitritter are all above .400, hitting .435, .412, and .405 respectively.  Payne has a .344 average in conference games while Malone is at .324, Matt Gray .316, Curt Bomgaars .306, and Kent Drickey .290.  Northwestern is hitting .337 in GPAC games only and has outscored their opponets 96-57.

Freshman lefty Mike Zoellner leads Northwestern with a 3.00 ERA and is 2-1 this season in four starts.  Mihai Burlea leads the staff in wins with six and is 6-2 in eight starts.  Joe Grady is 4-2 for the Red Raiders and has a team best four saves and a 4.12 ERA, while Trevor Kuiper is 4-1 with a 5.50 ERA.  Northwestern has a team ERA of 4.93 and has recorded 151 strikeouts in 191+ innings.  In GPAC games only, Zoellner is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA, Burlea is 4-0 with a 2.42 ERA, Grady is 3-1 with a 3.81 ERA, and Kuiper is 3-1 with a 5.64 ERA.  Northwestern's ERA in GPAC games is 3.76.

Up Next... Northwestern will have a home weekend on the 18th/19th as Mt. Marty and Nebraska Wesleyan come to Orange City.  Friday's doubleheader versus Mt. Marty will start at 5:00 p.m. and Saturday's doubleheader versus Nebraska Wesleyan will start at 1:00 p.m.

GPAC Standings