May 7th, 2022 is a date that Eagle Baseball fans will remember for a long time. The Eagles hosted Martin Luther College in a doubleheader in their final UMAC games of the regular season. The day was memorable for many reasons, but the biggest achievement of the day was the Eagles securing the UMAC Regular Season Championship and the right to host the UMAC Postseason Tournament as the #1 overall seed next week. The Eagles defeated the Knights 10-0 and 29-6.
Game One
As the first game of the doubleheader began, a couple of individual members of the UNW Baseball program were knocking on the door of significant milestones. Coach Dave Hieb, the all-time winningest coach in program history, needed one more win to reach the 500 career wins mark and Owen Boerema (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield), the Eagles' superstar pitcher, needed six strikeouts to set the program's single season record for strikeouts in a season. Both Hieb and Boerema would reach their milestones in the first game.
With the win, Coach Hieb becomes the first coach in University of Northwestern Athletics history to reach 500 wins. Coach Hieb has coached more games and won more games than anybody else in the history of Eagle athletics. Boerema, with a strikeout in the sixth inning, set the all-time program mark for strikeouts in a season with 105. The previous record of 104 strikeouts in a single season was set by Kevin Danielson in 1985. The record, before Boerema broke it this afternoon, stood for 37 years.
As for the action in the game, the Eagles' offense broke things open early. Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) would knock in an RBI with a single to left field in the first inning to start the scoring and that would be followed by a Cramer Hamilton (Apple Valley, Calif./Excelsior) triple in the second inning that would score Brett Skrede (Viroqua, Wis./Viroqua). Hamilton would come around to score thanks to a Payton Christenson (St. Croix Falls, Wis./St. Croix Falls) double and the Eagles led 3-0 after two innings.
In the third inning, Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) extended his program record for homeruns in a season by hitting his 16th homerun (he would hit his 17th later in the afternoon) of the season. This was a solo shot to right field. Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington) would then drive in two runs later in the inning with a double and the Eagles were in control through three innings, leading 6-0.
The Eagles would continue to add runs and would enter the seventh inning leading 9-0 and needing one more run to end the game. Senior Brett Skrede (Viroqua, Wis./Viroqua) (on senior day) would hit a walkoff sacrifice fly to end the game and give the Eagles the 10-0 win in game one.
Aside from setting the strikeout record, Boerema was fantastic on the mound once again. The lefty pitched all seven innings, did not allow a run, and only gave up two hits in his seventh victory of the season.
With the win in the first game of the doubleheader, the Eagles locked up a share of the conference championship and secured home field advantage throughout the UMAC Postseason Tournament. However, the Eagles needed one more win to be outright conference champions.
Game Two
The Knights came out guns blazing in the second game and took a 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning. However, after falling behind early, the Eagles would turn in the best scoring performance in the history of Eagles' Baseball.
Sticking with today's theme of record breaking performances, the Eagles scored 29 runs in game two which breaks the previous record of 28, which the Eagles accomplished earlier this season. UNW scored in all six innings that they came up to the plate, highlighted by a seven run third, eight run fourth, and ten run fifth.
The Eagles hit three homeruns in the game. Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) hit his 17th of the season, and Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) hit a grand slam on his way to seven RBIs in the contest. Sophomore CJ Toutant (Hortonville, Wis./Christian Liberty) hit the first homerun of his career, as the Eagles tracked down the ball for him to commemorate the moment.
A remarkable 15 Eagles collected hits as the team finished with 24 hits in the game. Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte), Ben Spores (Arlington, Wash./Arlington), and Isaac Pilon (Robbinsdale, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) had three runs batted in apiece. Daniel Peterson (Burlington, Wis./Burlington), Brett Skrede (Viroqua, Wis./Viroqua), and CJ Toutant (Hortonville, Wis./Christian Liberty) each knocked in two runs of their own.
Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian) picked up his eighth win of the season by pitching five innings and striking out four batters. Brandon Welch (Rogers, Minn./Rogers) pitched an inning while picking up a strikeout, and Bennett Thurow (Burnsville, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) pitched a scoreless seventh inning to finish the game.
With the win, the Eagles were crowned the 2022 UMAC Regular Season Champions. The Eagles have won the UMAC Regular Season Title in back to back seasons. UNW finished the regular season with a 17-4 conference record and won every UMAC series they played in.