Mitchell, S.D. –
The Tigers hosted their first home game of the season against the D2 Wolves of Northern State University. After a hot start in game one the Tigers were unable to keep up with the Wolves 10 runs, losing 10-7. Game two was a different story as a pair of Tigers each hit three run homers to get past the Wolves 13-10.
The Tigers would strike first after Seth Christiansen singled up the middle past the Wolve's short stop and Lane Darrow would round third for the first score. Drew Kitchens would come across the dish behind a Carter Olek sacrifice fly and the Tigers took a quick 2-0 after the first. The Wolves would answer the Tigers two scores with five of their own in the second and hold DWU scoreless throughout the next three innings. The Tigers struggled to get runners home after leaving four runners on base through those three innings. Landon Ruesink would single into right center and send Carter Olek home to make it 7-3 to cut into the NSU lead. Caleb Meyers would take advantage of an error by Northern and get home to make the score 7-4 before Tigers would leave the field. Northern continued to pile up the runs with three runs scored on two hits and a DWU error in the top of the sixth. Oscar Pravecek would hit a double into the left side and Drew Kitchens sprinted home to score trailing by four. Going into the bottom of the 7th, the Tigers trailed 10-6 and the Tigers comeback attempt was stalled with only one run scored in the final frame of the seven-inning contest, Tigers losing 10-7.
Game two, Northern struck first this time after Nolan Adkisson walked a Wolf with bases loaded. Once the Tigers got up to bat, Lane Darrow would reach first base after a wild pitch from the mound. Drew Kitchens fired a deep ball into left center and Darrow had some wheels as he sprinted all the way home to tie the score 1-1. Caleb Meyers came up to the plate for his first appearance of the day and with runners on first and third, Meyers smoked the ball over the fence in right field and to give the Tigers a 4-1 lead. Northern would open the third inning with a one run homer making it a two-run game. DWU wasn't going to let it stay like that however as a Landon Ruesink double sent Diego Jirau home and a Michael Zeman single sent Ruesink across the dish to bump the Tigers lead out to four at the end of the third. The Wolves took advantage of an error in the top of the fifth to get a runner one first. After fouling the first pitch, the following Northern batter sent the ball over the fence in right field for a two-run homer. This would start a run for Northern as they scored two more runs to make it a 7-6 Tigers lead. Dakota Wesleyan answered the Wolves big fifth inning with one of their own. The Tigers put up six runs that were capitalized with a Seth Christiansen moon shot into the left corner for a three-run home run. Tigers left the field with a 13-6 lead going into the sixth inning. Northern looked to keep it interesting as they scored three runs off a Tiger fielding error in the outfield. Next batter up looked to smash a hit up the right side, but first baseman Diego Jirau made a stellar diving catch for the second out and keep the baserunner on second. The next batter struck out swinging and NSU was down 13-9 at this point. DWU struggled in the bottom of the sixth and left the inning scoreless. The final score would come from an NSU single home run in the 7th before Caleb Meyers came in for the save for the Tigers and put away the Wolves. Dakota Wesleyan won the second game of the double header 13-10 after big performances from Meyers and Christiansen.
Up Next for the Tigers –
DWU will be hosting Morningside this Friday on March 15th to open the GPAC schedule. Game one is set to start at 1:00 p.m.
