Crete, Nebraska — The Northwestern College baseball team to No.2 seed Doane 7-6 in the GPAC Tournament opener for both teams. The Raiders, now 19-26, will play against the University of Jamestown in an elimination game on Friday at noon. Doane, with the win, will play Mount Marty in a winner’s bracket game on Friday, May 7 at 9am.
Tied 6-6 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, Doane’s Luke Lachance led off the inning with a walk off Northwestern relief pitcher Brady Roberts (3-6) and advanced to second on a bunt put down by Brett Meyer. Lachance went third on a fly-out by Nate Mensik and scored the game-winner after a wild pitch.
Now trailing by one run (7-6), Northwestern’s Noa Vogel reached base on a one-out single but Doane’s Thaniel Trumper recorded the final two outs to get his team the win.
Northwestern totaledd 13 hits comparted to seven by the Tigers; Doane, however, hit four home runs and the Raiders hit one. Jaden Snyder went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored, Noa Vogel and Eli Rash totaled two hits each and Colton Harold hit his team-leading 12th home run, a solo shot in the first inning.
Following Harold’s home run in the top of the first, Doane came back with two runs of its own in the home half of the first on a two-run home run by Joe Osborn that also scored Staley Gilmore.
Doane tacked on a run in the fourth, this time from a solo home run by Nate Mensik on a 2-2 pitch. Northwestern tied the game 3-3 when Mo Watson hit a two-run, two-out double that scored both Evan Olesen and Jaden Snyder.
The Tigers once again took the lead (6-3) with a three-run bottom of the sixth, hitting two home runs, a two-run shot by Staley Gilmore and a solo home run by Talon Little.
Down three, Northwestern rallied with a three-run seventh inning on a two-run double from Snyder, who came around to score the final run on a single from Sutton Derr.
Dylan Kirkeby pitched the first 5.2 innings, giving up six hits and four earned runs with seven strikeouts. Roberts allowed one hit and two runs over the final 2.1 innings
Trumper, the third and final Doane pitcher, earned the win by pitching the final two innings. Travis Cowan started the game, going the first six innings and struck out seven.
