Northwestern baseball is starting to find out that the Great Plains Athletic Conference is one of the most competitive conferences in NAIA baseball this year. With two doubleheaders this past weekend against two GPAC powerhouses, the Red Raiders were looking to pull out of a tie for first place in the conference and take sole lead of the GPAC. Things didn’t go as planned.
On April 15, NW took on the Midland Warriors in the first doubleheader of the weekend. Not much went on for the Red Raiders as they fell in game one by a score of 5-0. Senior Fernando Gutierrez pitched six complete innings, giving up five runs on eight hits, while striking out three.
Game two started off hot when the Red Raiders scored four runs in the first inning off RBI hits from senior Zach Cortese and sophomore Grant Lang.
NW never looked back and beat the Warriors 5-2. Sophomore Colin Pennings pitched a complete game, going the full nine innings to earn his fourth win of the season. Pennings struck out four while only giving up one earned run. The Red Raiders ended Friday on a high note and splitting the two-game series.
April 16 brought another GPAC matchup, as the Red Raiders took on the Concordia Bulldogs. Game one was an offensive field day for NW, as they were able to come out with a 15-1 win. Sophomores Grant Lang and Reed Smith combined for eight RBIs and senior Colin Sandbulte added to the RBI total with two of his own. Sophomore Raphael DeHoyos pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits, while striking out 13.
However, momentum was stopped in game two. Concordia came right back at the Red Raiders, beating them by a score of 12-6. While NW was able to able to find some offense behind sophomore Michael Callahan and senior Sean Geelan, it wasn’t enough. Lang had a rough start pitching, going four innings while giving up eight runs. The Red Raiders split the series with the Bulldogs, giving them a 2-2 record for the weekend.
Despite a split in both series, the Red Raiders are in a five-way tie for first place in the GPAC. Sitting at 8-4, NW is in a good spot to continue to push for sole lead of the GPAC. With two double headers this weekend against Mount Mary and Briar Cliff, it will be a good test to see if the Red Raiders can keep pushing forward.
NW will play Mount Marty tonight at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in Yankton, S.D. and will face off against Briar Cliff tomorrow at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. at home.
