Northwestern's baseball team played games outside for the first time in 2010, four times against Graceland, Doane, and Sioux Falls twice in Joplin, Missouri. The Raiders won twice but fell both times to Sioux Falls. The Raiders moved their overall record to 5-3.
Northwestern 6 Graceland 3
Mike Zoellner made his second start of the 2010 season and picked up his first win of the season after allowing three hits. Zoellner also had three strike outs and gave up three unearned runs. Jesus Santoyo pitched two hitless innings in relief and picked up his first career save. Offensively, the Raiders were led by Clint Gingerich, who had two hits in three at bats and two RBI. Six other Raiders had hits and Ty Bouchard added two RBI. Steve Englund scored twice.
Northwestern fell behind early when Graceland scored two runs on one hit and two Northwestern errors in the first. Northwestern gave up another unearned run in the second on one hit and one error. Down 3-0 heading into the fourth, Northwestern pounded out four hits and scored three times to even the score at 3-3. Ty Bouchard, Chuck Stith, and Clint Gingerich all had RBI hits in the inning. In the fifth, Northwestern again pushed across three runs on four hits. Bouchard and Gingerich both drove home runs again and Steve Englund scored on a wild pitch. Jesus Santoyo closed out the game without giving up a hit to move the Raiders to a 4-1 overall record.
Northwestern 8 Sioux Falls 17
Sioux Falls pounded out 18 hits and Northwestern made five errors in the second game of the day for Northwestern. Drew Nonnemacher started for the Raiders, he lasted two innings and gave up nine runs on ten hits. Collin Gingerich made his first career appearance and gave up five runs on four hits in one inning. Mike Pettigrew pitched the fourth inning and gave up two unearned runs in an inning of work on one hit. Chase Rozeboom threw the last three innings and gave up one run and three hits.
Offensively for Northwestern, four players had multiple hit days; Matt Gray was 2/5, stole two bases, and scored a run, Curt Bomgaars was 2/3 with two runs scored, Mike Zoellner was 3/4 with two runs scored, three RBI and two doubles, Ty Bouchard went 2/4 with a run scored and two RBI. Bouchard hit a fourth inning two-run home run. Clint Gingerich and Noah Bohlmann also added hits for Northwestern and Steve Englund scored twice.
Northwestern 8 Doane 4
Northwestern won the first game of a non-conference doubleheader with Doane and Sioux Falls by the score of 8-4 over Doane. Jared Kirkeby started for Northwestern and pitched five strong innings, allowing three earned runs. Brad Payne picked up his second save of the season, throwing two scoreless innings.
Steve Englund highlighted the Raider offense by going 4-4 with three runs scored and four RBI. Englund had a second inning two-run homerun and a sixth inning two-run inside the park homerun after the Doane center fielder dove for the ball and missed. Mike Zoellner was 1/2 with a RBI, Matt Negaard was 1/1 with a run, RBI, and a double, and Corey Van Gorp was 1/2 with a run scored.
The Raiders got off to a quick start scoring two runs in the first and second innings. Doane won the middle innings, scoring one in the third, one in the fourth, and two in the fifth. Northwestern scored the go ahead run in the bottom of the fifth when Englund led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third, and scored on a Zoellner sac fly. Northwestern added three more in the sixth inning and Payne picked up a two inning save.
The win moved Northwestern to 5-2.
Northwestern 6 Sioux Falls 14
The Raiders again fell to Sioux Falls in game two in Joplin, this time by the score of 14-6. Northwestern briefly had a 3-1 lead after the top of the second, but trailed 4-3 after two, and 9-4 after three. Taylor Morris went 2.1 innings and gave up seven hits, nine runs, seven earned runs and walked three. Eddie Pantzlaff went 2.2 innings in relief and gave up three hits. Bret Larson relieved Pantzlaff and gave up five hits and five runs in one inning.
At the plate, Northwestern got two hits each from Curt Bomgaars and Steve Englund and one hit from Matt Negaard, Ty Bouchard, and Matt Gray. Englund scored twice and Mike Zoellner picked up two RBI, one on a ground out and one on a sac fly.
The loss dropped the Raiders to 5-3. All of the games this weekend were non-conference games.
