Baseball Splits Pair At Tiffin To Wrap Up Regular Season

TIFFIN, OHIO – The Northwood University baseball team wrapped up the regular season with a doubleheader split at Tiffin Sunday afternoon (May 3). Tiffin picked up a 17-7 win in game one while Northwood earned a 7-6 victory in the nightcap.

Northwood is now 28-21 overall and finished GLIAC play with a 20-12 record. Tiffin ends its season at 19-31 overall, 12-20 in the GLIAC.

With the results today from around the league, Northwood will be the No. 3 seed in the upcoming GLIAC Tournament.

Northwood got off to a good start in game one in the first inning, plating two runs. But from that point on, it was the Tiffin offense that was in control. The Dragons scored in five of the six innings in which they batted. The Timberwolves scored four in top of the sixth to make the score 9-7, but TU responded with eight runs in the bottom of the inning to earn the win.

For the game, Tiffin finished with a 15-12 advantage in hits. The key to the game proved to be on defense, where NU made seven errors which led to 11 unearned runs for Tiffin.

Nick Barrientos (Zionsville, Ind./Danville Area CC), Dustin Lee (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.), Wayne Moak (Marysville, Mich.) and Daniel Pulver (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) all had two hits for Northwood. Barrientos and Pulver each scored two runs, while Lee drove in a pair.

Game two saw the two teams go back and forth throughout. The Timberwolves had a 2-0 lead in the third inning, only to see Tiffin level the score with a pair of runs. Both teams scored one in the fourth, but the Timberwolves scored one in the fifth and two in the seventh to go up 6-3. NU eventually led 7-4 in bottom of the ninth when TU scored a pair. But the Timberwolves were able to close out the game and earn the win.

Northwood out-hit Tiffin 11-9 in game two. Both teams drew five walks in the contest.

Zyke Bailey (Taylor, Mich./HS Truman) led Northwood with three hits in game two. Travis Smith (Clare, Mich.) had two hits, including what proved to be the game-winning home run in the top of the ninth inning. Eric Cotton (Novi, Mich./Jackson CC) added a key two-run homer while scoring a pair of runs.

Jake Semak (Livonia, Mich./Stevenson) picked up the win in relief, tossing 1 2/3 shutout innings. Sean Cunningham (Ada, Mich./Forest Hills Northern)  earned his first career save in the win.

Northwood will travel to the GLIAC Tournament, taking on Ohio Dominican in the opening round Thursday night (May 7) at 5:30 p.m. The event will take place May 7-10 in Xenia, Ohio.