The Northwestern baseball team has now won seven straight after defeating No. 19 ranked Bellevue on Tuesday. NW also defeated Nebraska Wesleyan and Dakota Wesleyan in doubleheaders this week, moving ahead in GPAC standings.
No. 24 ranked NW beat higher ranked Bellevue in a non-conference match this week, by a final score of 8-5. Senior Davis Bloemendaal led the Raider offense going 3-for-4 with a run scored and a career-high five RBIs. He hit a three-run double in the third inning, and had a two-run single in the sixth to give NW an 8-1 lead. Freshman pitcher Chase Davis secured his first win of the season with three strikeouts in five innings, giving up four hits and one earned run. Freshman Alec Forbes pitched three innings in relief, striking out three and giving up one run. Sophomore Josh Turner pitched the final inning. Northwestern totaled 11 hits off the three Bellevue pitchers. Seniors Micah Linn and Erik Widener each had two hits, and juniors Skyler Wheeler, Mitch Peschon and Gavin Okada all had one each.
“When we get on a roll we are tough to play with,” said Turner. “We can play with anyone in the country, and we’ve proven we deserve to be where we are.”
On Monday the Raiders played a home doubleheader against the visiting Dakota Wesleyan team. In the first game NW won 5-2 behind senior pitcher Matt Piocos, who pitched six innings with five strikeouts and giving up the games two runs. Turner was the closer in this game, pitching a scoreless seventh and earning his third save of the season. Peschon and Wheeler both had two hits on the day, but Wheeler sealed the game with his go-ahead two-run homerun in the sixth. In the second game NW won by a final of 3-1 behind sophomore pitcher Isaac Horigan who pitched the complete nine innings. He allowed only four hits and had eight strikeouts. DWU made four errors, contributing to four stolen bases for NW.
Saturday NW played against Nebraska Wesleyan at home in another GPAC doubleheader. In the first game NW won a close 6-5 contest behind senior pitcher Tyler Stuerman who pitched five innings and had four strikeouts. Josh Turner was the closer in this game as well, pitching in the last three innings and picking up the save. The Raiders had 13 hits on the day including Widener’s 3-for-5 performance. In the second game NW completed the sweep with a 3-2 win behind senior Ryan Brasser, who pitched into the sixth inning and earned his third win of the season. Forbes pitched the rest of the game coming up with his second save of the season. NW totaled five hits, and was led once again by Widener who went 1-for-2 with a homerun.
“Erik has been playing out of his mind lately,” said Turner. “I think his efforts are making everyone else want to compete on that same level.”
NW will play again today at Midland, in another doubleheader.
