Dylan Kirkeby pitched a complete-game shutout in leading the Northwestern College baseball team to a 2-0 win against Midland in game one of a conference doubleheader played today in Orange City. The Raiders lost game two 11-2 and split with Midland for the second consecutive day.
Northwestern heads into the final week of the regular season with a 10-14 conference record, 17-23 overall.
Game One: 2-0 win
- Kirkeby (4-1) earned his fourth win of the season with his first career shutout, limiting Midland to three singles
- he retired the first six hitters, struck out one in the 82-pitch effort
- scoreless after three innings, Northwestern pushed both runs across in the bottom of the fourth
- Colton Harold singled and advanced to second after an error by the Midland centerfielder
- following a walk to Sam Stanford, Sutton Derr hit a two-out, two-run double, scoring both Harold and Stanford
- Steven Boyd (3-6) took the loss for Midland, giving up seven hits, two runs and struck out four
- Derr and Gavin Lorenzen had two hits for Northwestern
Game Two: 11-2 loss
- Northwestern fell behind 6-0 after three innings as Midland scored two runs in each of the first three innings
- the Warriors hit three solo home runs over the first two innings, one each by Dakota Thornton, Sam Braun and Chase Reynolds
- The Raiders scored a run in the fourth and fifth innings, making the score 6-2
- Harold led off the fourth with a single, advanced to second on a passed ball, went to third after a single by Kip Cullinan and scored on a groundout by Eli Rash
- Noa Vogel led off the fifth with a double, the lone extra-base hit for the Raiders; Vogel scored on a couple of wild pitches
- Midland scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to put the game away, taking advantage of four Northwestern errors
- Evan Olesen (1-3) picked up the loss, giving up seven hits and four runs in 1.1 innings
- Seven different Raiders had one hit each
- Chase Reynolds (2-0) pitched the final five innings to earn the win in relief, giving up three hits and one run
- Nichols paced the Warriors 15-hit game with three hits; Thornton, Connor Petersen and Reynolds all had two hits