Baseball rolls in Minnesota, blown out at M’Side

The Northwestern baseball team is now 14-10 on their season after going 3-1 in Minneapolis on  March 23-24, and falling to Morningside in Sioux City Wednesday night.
The non-conference game on Wednesday night was a sloppy battle for the Raiders as they fell to the Mustangs 10-1. NW had five hits in the game from five different players, but stranded nine runners on base.
“We got behind early and played lethargic the whole game,” said freshman Mitch Peschon, “We just didn’t play with any passion.”
Senior southpaw Jared Kirkeby took the loss, but of the six runs surrendered during his four innings on the mound, none were earned.
NW totaled five errors on the game.
The Raiders started off last weekend slow, losing their first game to Macalaster 4-0, but they followed the loss with three consecutive wins to end their visit to the Twin Cities.
In the first game, senior Mike Zoellner gave up five hits with five strikeouts and four walks. Senior Steve Englund had two hits for NW, while junior Taylor Morris had one along with senior Ty Bouchard who also had one.
In the next game against Macalester, the Raiders got revenge winning with a score of 8-3. Sophomore right-hander Tyler Stuerman is now 3-0 on the mound this year allowing three runs and giving up six hits on the day.
The Raiders had success at the plate with nine hits as a team, two of them coming from Englund. One of those hits was a solo home run to left field. Peschon added two base knocks as well. The Raiders had seven different players cross the plate after each getting a hit.
“We didn’t come out ready to play the first game,” Peschon said, “but we came back fired up for the second game and played well as a team to get the win.”
The Raiders swept the Tigers of Dakota Wesleyan in a nonconference double header on the 24th. The first of two games was close, and the Raiders won the hard fought battle 2-1.
Sophomore left-hander Ryan Brasser started the game on the mound and picked up the win to advance his record to 3-1 on the year. Brasser allowed one run and three hits in six innings while striking out seven.
Junior Noah Bohlmann had two hits that helped lead the Raiders to a victory along with Zoellner’s RBI double.
Senior Eddie Pantzlaff ended the game with his fifth save this year.
On the last game of the weekend the Raiders once again came out on top against the Tigers winning 7-0.
Morris started the game pitching. He threw five innings, allowed one hit,  struck out and walked four apiece. Kirkeby also added to the one-hit shutout, relieving Morris in the sixth inning and throwing two perfect innings with two strikeouts.
The Raiders were assisted by three errors from Dakota Wesleyan.
NW will see travel to Doane and Hastings this weekend for two series.