Baseball takes one from Northwestern in doubleheader

ORANGE CITY, Iowa – Two days after dropping a pair of games to Northwestern College, the Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team split its Saturday twin bill with the Raiders. DWU dropped the first game after a 9-2 decision, but came back and took the second game of the day with a 14-4 victory in Orange City, Iowa.

Baseball takes one from Northwestern in doubleheader

Team Stats

April 3, 2021

ORANGE CITY, Iowa – Two days after dropping a pair of games to Northwestern College, the Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team split its Saturday twin bill with the Raiders. DWU dropped the first game after a 9-2 decision, but came back and took the second game of the day with a 14-4 victory in Orange City, Iowa.

 In the opening Great Plains Athletic Conference game, Luke LeMay (St. Paul, Minn.) hit a sac fly to right field to bring home a run to give DWU an early 1-0 lead in the first frame. But, in the bottom half of the inning, the Raiders (11-17, 4-8 GPAC) connected on a solo-shot homerun to tie the game.

 The game remained tied only momentarily as Joseph Hanisch (Hartford, S.D.) singled to center field, bringing Tyler Torres (Novato, Calif.) home to regain a 2-1 lead.

 After a scoreless bottom of the second and top of the third, Northwestern tacked on five runs in the bottom of the third inning. Colton Harold, the same player that hit a homerun in the opening inning, hit a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning. The Raiders tallied another homerun a few batters later as they held a 7-2 advantage.

 Northwestern added one run over the following three innings as they held DWU scoreless throughout the remainder of the contest to take the opening game.

 LeMay finished with an RBI, as Hanisch went 1-for-3 with a run batted in. Seth Christiansen (Victor, Idaho) was tabbed with a loss as he pitched three innings and struck out two batters.

 The second game saw an offensive explosion for the Tigers (10-13, 4-8 GPAC) as they scored 14 runs, recorded 12 hits and 13 RBIs. The game began with a pair of Tiger runs off a Northwestern error and a sac fly.

 In the top of the second, the Raiders went to their third pitcher to try and stop a Tiger slugfest. However, DWU added four runs in the frame after a Northwestern error, a Drew DeMers (Winner, S.D.) RBI double and two-run homerun by Dalton Wilcoxen (Council Bluffs, Iowa).

 The bottom half of the inning saw a pair of groundouts and a strikeout looking to retire the side for Northwestern. After a pair of runs for the Tigers in the top of the fourth, the Raiders got on the scoreboard with two runs of their own as DWU held an 8-2 lead after four innings.

 Holding a 9-4 lead heading into the top of the eighth frame, the Tigers put the game out of reach thanks to a five-run top of the inning. The inning was highlighted by a three-run double by Torres. The bottom of the inning saw two strikeouts and a groundout as the Tigers took the second game of the doubleheader.

 Leading the way were Torres and Wilcoxen as they each finished with four RBIs, while LeMay went 1-for-4 with three runs batted in. DeMers finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, as Jared Jones (Edmond, Okla.) picked up the win as he pitched seven frames and struck out six batters.

 The Tigers travel north to take on the University of Jamestown for a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday in Jamestown, N.D.