Noah McBride pitched a complete-game, four-hitter in leading top-seed Northwestern to a 7-1 win in a winner’s bracket game at the GPAC Baseball Tournament-Northwestern Bracket played Saturday in Orange City. The win puts the Red Raiders in Monday’s bracket championship game(s), beginning at noon (May 7) against Morningside.
McBride dominated the Broncos’ hitters for nine innings, giving up four hits, one walk and striking out three in improving his record to 6-2 on the year. The freshman lefty pitched his fourth complete game of the season and lowered his ERA to 3.48.
Northwestern hitters roughed up Hastings pitchers, totaling 13 hits by eight different players in the line-up. Reed Smith set the tone at the top of the order, going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs while Matt Martin and Dustin Gaither recorded two hits each in the middle of the line-up. Zachary Rosson and A.J. Nitzschke provided the punch at the bottom of the line-up, both going 2-for-4.
The Red Raiders opened the game with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning on RBI singles by Gaither and Colton Harold, scoring Christian Stekl and Michael Callahan, for a 2-0 lead. Coach Wede’s squad plated three more runs in the fifth on three straight singles by Callahan, Martin and Gaither. Mitchell Kresnik drove a run in on a fielder’s choice later in the inning and Smith was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, earning him an RBI.
Hastings came back with its only run in the bottom of the fifth on back-to-back doubles by Brandon Utrup and Tynan O’Brien. The Red Raiders put the game away with a run in each of the seventh and eighth innings on RBI singles by Smith and Martin.
Broncos starter Grant Svec (4-6) took the loss, giving up eight hits and four earned runs in 4.1 innings. Austin Vitosh pitched the final 4.2 innings, giving up five hits and two runs.
The Red Raiders, now 28-18 overall and 2-0 in the GPAC Baseball Tournament-Northwestern Bracket, will play Morningside at noon on Monday, May 7. A Northwestern win will give the Red Raiders the bracket championship and a berth into the GPAC Tournament Championship game on Tuesday. A loss at noon to the Mustangs will force a winner take all, nine-inning game between the two teams at 3pm.
