Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader Against Gannon

The Northwood University baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep over Gannon Friday night (March 7). NU won game one 7-1 before posting an 11-6 win in eight innings in game two.

Northwood is now 3-2 on the season. Gannon falls to 2-8 with the losses.

In game one, the Timberwolves got off to a good start with a pair of runs in the first inning thanks to a two-run single by freshman Daniel Pulver (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.). After the Golden Knights got on the board with a run in the top of the second, NU made it 3-1 on a Cody Rogers (Saginaw, Mich./Swan Valley) sac fly. Northwood then broke the game open in the third with three more runs. Eric Altman (West Bloomfield, Mich./ St. Clair CC) had an RBI triple, followed by RBIs from Anthony DiPaolo (Northville, Mich./Divine Child) and Andrew Fleming (Olivet, Mich./Kellogg CC). The Timberwolves rounded out the scoring in the sixth on a Larsen Cronkright (Midland, Mich./Kellogg CC) RBI single.

For the game, Northwood finished with 10 hits, led by Dustin Lee (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) with three. Pulver had two hits and two RBI's, while Altman and Fleming each finished with two hits and an RBI. Andrew Joseph (Sylvania, Ohio/Owens CC) picked up his first win of the season on the mound, allowing one run on three hits in six innings of work.

Game two looked like it was going to be another easy win for Northwood, as the Timberwolves jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the third inning. Pulver had a walk with the bases loaded in the first inning, which was followed by a two-run single by Altman to make the score 3-0. Then Cronkright and an RBI in the second followed by a run on a flyout to make it 5-0 in the second. Zyke Bailey (Taylor, Mich./H.S. Truman) extended the lead to 6-0 in the third with an RBI double. But the Golden Knights fought back, scoring three runs in the third to cut the lead down to 6-3. The score remained 6-3 until the sixth when Gannon plated three more runs to level the score 6-6. Gannon then had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh, but the Golden Knights had two runners thrown out at the plate in the inning to send the game to extra innings.

NU then took control of the game once again in the eighth, scoring five runs. The Timberwolves had just two hits in the inning, but drew six walks while Gannon had an error and a passed ball in the inning. Rogers, Cronkright, Altman and Bailey all had RBIs in the inning.

Altman and Rogers each had three hits for Northwood in the game. Rogers scored three runs, while Altman had three RBIs. Cronkright had two hits and two RBIs. Jake Winicki (Birmingham, Mich./Brother Rice) got a no-decision on the mound despite allowing one earned run in five innings of work. Jordan Schwellenbach (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage) picked up the win out of the bullpen, allowing one run in three innings of work.

Northwood will take on Alderson-Broaddus in a doubleheader Saturday afternoon (March 8). First pitch is set for 3 p.m.