For the second consecutive day, the Red Raiders split a conference doubleheader against Midland, losing game one 5-4 in eight innings and coming back to win game two 11-5.
Northwestern is now 3-5 in the GPAC, 9-13 overall.
The Red Raider bats feasted on Midland pitching in game two, pounding out 14 hits and scoring 11 runs against five Warrior pitchers.
Ben De Boer went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored at the top of the line-up.
Josh Fakkema went a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs scored and both Zach Rosson (2-4, 2 RBIs) and
Sutton Derr (2-for-3, 2 runs, RBI) had to hits each. Nearly every starter had at least one hit and every starter reached base.
Northwestern overcame an early 3-1 deficit, scoring two in the top of the second for a 3-3 tie. Fakkema drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third after a Derr single and Midland error. A wild pitch scored Fakkema and De Boer single plated Derr with two outs.
Midland went back in front (4-3) after a solo home run by Dakota Thornton in the bottom of the third. Northwestern, however, took the lead for good with a four-run fifth inning, getting an RBI double by
Mason O'Donnell, a two-run single by Rosson and an RBI single by Derr, all with two outs. The Red Raiders had five straight hits off three Midland pitchers in the inning.
Northwestern put the game away in the seventh, scoring four more runs on three hits and a Midland error. De Boer had another RBI single and
A.J. Nitzschke hit a two-run home run.
Ryan Reynolds (1-0) earned his first win as a Red Raider, giving up two hits and one run in 3.2 innings of relief. The freshman entered the game in the bottom of the second with no outs and runners at second and third. Reynolds hit his first batter to load the bases but then initiated a 1-2-3 double play and a harmless ground ball to get out of the jam.
Evan Olesen pitched 1.1 scoreless innings and
A.J. Nitzschke allowed one run in the seventh.
Midland totaled five hits, one hit by five different players. Thornton scored a pair of runs and drove in two. Tyler Seebaum (0-1), the second of the five Warrior pitchers, took the loss, giving up four hits and three runs in 2.2 innings.
The Warriors scored the winning run off a NW error to earn a come-from-behind, 5-4 win in extra innings of game one. Northwestern went ahead in the top of the eighth (4-3) when
Andrew Mescher, running for
Austin Zylstra, scored after a Midland error on a ball hit by Fakkema with one out.
Down one, Midland put runners at second and third with a leadoff single by Matt Abdelnour and a double by Thornton off Northwestern reliever,
Mason O'Donnell (2-2). A sacrifice fly by Bryan Smith tied the game at four and then the Warriors then scored the winning run on a ball hit by Sam Braun.
O'Donnell took the loss, giving up five hits and two runs in two-innings.
Alec Rickabaugh picked up the no-decision, pitching well in 5.2 innings. The junior gave up four hits and three runs while striking out three.
Northwestern totaled five hits, led by Zylstra (2/4, run) and
Drew Schutt, who put the Red Raiders in front 3-0 with a three-run home run in the fourth.
