Baseball Earns Doubleheader Sweep Over Hillsdale

MIDLAND, MICH. – The Northwood University baseball team picked up a doubleheader sweep over Hillsdale Friday afternoon (April 3). The Timberwolves picked up a 7-5 win in game one before earning a 14-4 victory in game two.

Northwood, who has now won five in a row and six of seven, improves to 14-12 overall, 7-3 in the GLIAC. That record puts the Timberwolves alone in first place in the North Division. Hillsdale falls to 8-18 overall, 3-7 in the GLIAC.

The Timberwolves opened the scoring in game one with a run in the first. Hillsdale tied the game in the third, but NU responded strong. Northwood scored two in the third, three in the fourth and one in the fifth to go up 7-1. The Chargers got back into the game with four runs in the sixth to make the score 7-5, but Northwood held HC off the board the rest of the way to earn the win.

Northwood out-hit Hillsdale 14-11 for the game. NU also drew four walks while HC finished with zero.

Dustin Lee (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) finished the game 4-4 with two runs scored and a pair of RBIs. Daniel Pulver (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) added three hits and three runs scored, while Travis Smith (Clare, Mich.) went 2-2 with a run scored and an RBI. Zyke Bailey (Taylor, Mich./H.S. Truman) had two hits and two RBIs.

Luke Bivens (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview) improved to 3-1. He allowed five runs in 5 2/3 innings of work, four of which came in the sixth. Bivens had four strikeouts and zero walks. Larry Wood (Essexville, Mich./Garber) picked up his first save of the season by retiring the final four batters of the game.

In game two, Northwood scored three in the second and one in the third to go up 4-0. Hillsdale cut the lead to 4-1 in the fourth, only to see the Timberwolves put the game away in the following innings. NU scored three in the fifth and five more in the sixth to open up a 12-1 lead.

The Timberwolves had a steady number of baserunners in the contest, finishing with 15 hits and 11 walks.  Even with Northwood scoring 14 runs, NU left 14 runners on base for the game. Hillsdale had nine hits while drawing five walks.

Lee finished the game 3-4 with four runs scored and two walks. On the day, Lee ended up 7-8 with a pair of walks. Nick Barrientos (Zionsville, Ind./Danville Area CC) had three RBIs and a pair of hits. Grant Bridgewater (Bay City, Mich./Western) went 2-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Dylan Trimarchi (Pasadena, Calif./Glendale CC) finished the game 2-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Alex Lewandowski (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) picked up the win thanks to eight strong innings. He allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out five.

Northwood and Hillsdale will wrap up their weekend series with a doubleheader Saturday (April 4). First pitch is set for 1 p.m.