St. Paul, Minn. –– The No. 1 seeded Northwestern Eagles (32-10) won its first-ever conference tournament with a 10-1 victory over the No. 2 seeded St. Scholastica Saints (20-9). Northwestern will make its first-ever NCAA Baseball Appearance next weekend. Northwestern is hosting its regional and will find out who else is in their region on Sunday. Philip Wall (Juneau, Alaska/IDEA) was named the Tournament MVP after his outstanding day at the plate against Superior and Scholastica on Friday. Then, he recorded a complete game to clinch the championship on Saturday afternoon.
After the Saints knocked off Bethany Lutheran 2-1 earlier on Saturday afternoon, Northwestern came out firing in the bottom of the second. Wyatt Morrell (Elk River, Minn./Homeschool) drew a one-out walk, and Mason Skrede (Viroqua, Wis./Viroqua) followed with a two-out walk. Carlton Lindow (Cannon Falls, Minn./Cannon Falls) kept up his hot stick at the plate with an RBI single that he smacked back up the middle to bring in the first run of the game. After five RBIs between the two games yesterday, he added two more in the championship to record seven between the three games. A wild pitch advanced Skrede and Lindow to scoring position, and Guerin Szafraniec (Brighton, Colo./Brighton) crushed a double to the gap in right-center to extend the lead to 3-0.
Philip Wall (Juneau, Alaska/IDEA) got the start for the Eagles, and he had three key double plays turned behind him throughout the contest. The first came in the top of the third after Scholastica's first two batters reached. He then forced the double play and the next batter to ground out to strand a runner on third. Scholastica kept the pressure on Northwestern in the top of the fourth with two runners in scoring position with two-outs, but Wall once again worked out of the jam.
In the bottom of the fifth, Northwestern extended its lead to seven with a huge inning. Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) recorded a one-out single before Keegan Vercoe (Queen Creek, Ariz./Poston Butte) hit a double to right-center to advance Peterson to third. Aaron Severson (Columbia Heights, Minn./Columbia Heights) smacked a single to left to make it 4-0 before Morrell drew an eight-pitch walk to load the bases. Back-to-back singles from Wall and Skrede and an RBI fielder's choice from Lindow added three more.
In the top of the sixth, Scholastica recorded its first run of the contest thanks to a double and back-to-back walks to load the bases. The Saints followed with a single to cut the lead to six. Wall then induced his third double play of the day with a ground ball to Morrell to end the threat.
Northwestern got the run back in the sixth as Peterson recorded a leadoff double against his former team. Severson swapped places with Peterson, and the lead went back to seven. In the seventh, Skrede crushed a double off the wall in left-center, and Lindow drew a walk to put two runners on. Andrew Simonson (Hudson, Wis./East Ridge) recorded an RBI groundout before Sam Peterson (Aitkin, Minn./Aitkin) hit a single to bring in Szafraniec to make it 10-1.
Wall retired the final seven Saints, as he prevented them from even starting a comeback attempt. In his nine innings of work, he only gave up five hits and struck out two. The senior dominated the Saints to lock up the UMAC Championship.
The Eagles recorded thirteen hits in the championship game as every Eagle reached base. Peterson and Severson both recorded three hits to lead the Eagles. Every Eagle either drove in a run or scored a run as the Eagles followed their 15-run victory over the Saints on Friday with a 9-run win to clinch the title in the Saints' final game in the UMAC. The team won the tournament without its top hitter and top pitcher (stats-wise), Bryce Crabb (Des Moines, Iowa/Grand View Christian), who hopes to be back for the NCAA Tournament.
In addition to winning the championship today, Northwestern also set the school record in wins in a season with 32. The Eagles move on to the regional after winning its first-ever conference tournament after winning its first regular-season title in 25 years.