Baseball Splits Twinbill Against Hillsdale

OVERVIEW – HILLSDALE

SCORES: Northwood Timberwolves 12, Hillsdale Chargers 2/Hillsdale 5, Northwood 4

RECORDS: Northwood (22-9, 13-1 GMAC), Hillsdale (13-15, 8-6 GMAC)

LOCATION: Gerace Stadium – Midland, Mich.

RECAP: Northwood baseball splits pair of games against Hillsdale Friday (April 7), with the Timberwolves taking game one 12-2 before the Chargers earned a comeback 5-4 win in game two to snap NU's 15-game winning streak.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS (NINE INNINGS)

• Good base running combined with five hits led to four first inning runs for the Timberwolves. A pair of RBI singles from Blake Salamon and Myles Beale scored Jacob Rybicki and Evan Weigand.
• Alex Cole added a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Salamon. Joey Johnston added an RBI single to put NU up 4-0.
• Hillsdale brought home a run on a double-steal attempt, putting the score at 4-1 in the top of the second.
• The bottom of the fourth inning saw NU extend their lead to 6-1. Wiegand scored on a wild pitch, followed by an RBI single from Salamon to drive in Matt Magno.
• The Timberwolves added two more runs thanks to a bases-loaded walk from Jacob Rybicki and a run on a double play pushed their lead to 8-1.
• The Chargers added one run in the top of the sixth, putting the score at 8-2.
• The Timberwolves scored four runs on three hits in the bottom of the eighth. Alex Cole hit an RBI single to left center to score Myles Beale, followed by David Jeffers adding an RBI single of his own to plate Rhett Evans.
• Rybicki brought in the final two runs with a single to left field to drive in Johnston and Cole and put the final score at 12-2.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 12/15/3, Hillsdale 2/5/5
• Runners left on base: Northwood 12, Grace Christian 8
• Winning Pitcher: Derek Clark – (6-1): 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 10 K
• Losing Pitcher: Daly Skees – (1-1): 4 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 2 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Johnston: 2-3, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB
• Rybicki: 1-3, R, 3 RBI, 3 BB
• Salamon: 2-5, R, 2 RBI
• Beale: 2-4, 2 R, RBI
• Wiegand: 2-5, 2 R

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS (SEVEN INNINGS)

• Ben Clark got the NU offense started in the bottom of the first with an RBI double. A sacrifice fly from Rhett Evans brought Clark home, followed by an RBI single by Alex Cole to score Matt Magno. The Timberwolves added their fourth run of the inning as Blake Salamon reached home on a wild pitch for NU to take the early 4-0 lead.
• HC brought on reliever Zane Barnhart at the end of the first inning. He proved to be the key player of the game, shutting the Timberwolves out of the final 6 1/3 innings.
• The Chargers cut into the lead with a 2-run homerun to put the score at 4-2 in the top of the third.
• Hillsdale added three runs in the top of the sixth to take their first lead of the day, going up 5-3.
• The Timberwolves were unable to score a run for the remainder of the game, losing their first G-MAC contest of the season.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 4/4/0, Hillsdale 5/7/1
• Runners left on base: Northwood 5, Hillsdale 5
• Winning Pitcher: Zane Barnhart – (4-1): 6.1 IP, H, 2 BB, 7 K
• Losing Pitcher: Jake Carroll – (0-1): 1.1 IP, H, R, 0 BB, 2 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Ben Clark: 1-3, R, RBI
• Cole: 1-3, RBI
• Beale: 1-2, BB

UP NEXT

• Hillsdale and Northwood will conclude their weekend series with a  doubleheader Saturday (April 8). First pitch is set for 1 p.m.