Dylan Kirkeby pitched his second consecutive shutout in leading the Northwestern College baseball team to 9-0 win in game one of a GPAC doubleheader played today in Hastings, Neb. Northwestern came up short in game two, 5-2, and earned the No.7 seed in the upcoming GPAC Baseball postseason tournament beginning next week.
Northwestern closed the regular season with a 12-16 record, 19-25 overall.
Game One: 9-0 win
Kirkeby extended his scoreless inning streak to 16 as the sophomore right hander limited Hastings to five hits and struck out three in the full seven innings. Kirkeby lowered his team-leading ERA to 2.37 and matched
Brett Shelton for the team lead in wins, improving to 5-1.
Scoreless after one inning, Northwestern plated two runs in the top of the second on a two-run single by
Mason Porepp that scored
Noa Vogel and
Eli Rash. Still 2-0 heading into the fifth, the Raiders put the game away with a five-run fifth.
Colton Harold led off with a double and scored on a single from
Kip Cullinan who scored after another double hit by
Sam Stanford. Rash followed with yet another double that scored Stanford, and after a pitching change,
Sutton Derr singled and both base runners came around to score on a double by Porepp.
Northwestern added one run each of the sixth and seventh innings; Rash contributed an RBI single in the sixth , scoring Cullinan;
Mo Watson drove in the final run with a sacrifice fly, scoring Porepp, in the seventh.
Head Coach
Brian Wede's squad totaled 15 hits by eight different players, led by
Noa Vogel who went 4-for-4. Rash added three hits and two RBI and both Cullinan and Porepp added two hits each.
Hastings was limited to five singles; Josh Merithew (3-5) took the loss, giving up nine hits and six runs in 4.1 innings.
Game Two: 5-2 loss
The host Broncos broke a 2-2 tie by scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth in defeating Northwestern 5-2 in game two.
Corey Koranda led off the fifth with a double off Northwestern starter,
Brett Shelton (5-4), and his pinch runner, Keaton Hoeke, scored the go-ahead run on a single from Ryder Ghidotti. The Broncos scored the final two runs on a single by Cole Staab and two Raider errors.
Shelton gave up six hits and three earned runs in 4.2 innings;
Ben Zeutenhorst and
Ryan Reynolds combined to pitch the final 3.1 scoreless innings.
Vogel once again led the way offensively with two hits while Stanford, Derr, Porepp and
Evan Olesen all had one hit. Olesen drove in the Raiders final run with a double in the second inning.
Gates Johnson (4-5) allowed six hits and two runs in the full nine innings to earn his fourth win of the season.
