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Sioux Falls, S.D. – The Wolves fought hard through the elimination bracket of the NSIC/US Bank Baseball Tournament, however came up short versus Minnesota Duluth in Friday action. Northern fell to the Bulldogs 10-11 in extra innings, ending their playoff run. What proved to be a record breaking season for the Wolves ended with a 27-26 record overall and the first NCAA Division II conference tournament victory.
 
After a perfect night, less than 24 hours before Eric O'Bryan started things right for NSU connecting for a single up the middle. O'Bryan advanced to second off Tyler Gripentrog's hard groundout to the second basemen, leaving a runner in scoring position for Lorenz. Lucas, who struggled early in the tournament, belted a long ball high over the right center fence to put the Wolves up 2-0 in the top of the first.
 
The Wolves and Bulldogs battled throughout the game with runs being scored in eight of the ten innings of play. Each team took the lead on multiple occasions refusing to lay down in defeat. Northern broke the game open in the fourth and fifth for three runs and the 5-3 lead. Duluth however battled back for seven runs of their own in the next three innings of play.
 
NSU headed to the top of the ninth with their backs against the wall and a 10-7 Minnesota Duluth lead. Riley Shintaffer led off the Wolves final regulation inning of play with a double to center, his second of the game. Shintaffer was followed by Jack Schmidt who walked to leave runners on first and second for Alex Cornwell. The senior left field, continued his hot streak with a double to right center; Shintaffer and Schmidt both scored on the play.
 
Northern had cut the lead to one, and continued to rally with no outs in the inning. Robert Fahlin connected for a hard ground ball with Cornwell's speed pressuring the shortstop. Alex reached safely and advanced to third off a throwing error by the Bulldog shortstop, and the Wolves were again in scoring position. The Duluth mishap paid off the next at-bat, as Cornwell scored on Clayton Nutting's fielder's choice to short. The two teams were tied at ten all heading into the final half inning of regulation.
 
Colton Boucher entered in relief to throw the ninth for the Wolves and hold the Bulldogs. Boucher collected three strikeouts in the inning, and gave up only one hit as the two teams headed to extras. The Wolves were unable to plate a run in the top half of the inning, and Boucher returned in the tenth. Duluth's lead-off battered reach third on a dropped fly ball in center and the Wolves proceeded to walk the bases loaded. UMD snuck a walk-off single to left and took the game.
 
Eric O'Bryan and Lucas Lorenz each tallied four hits in the loss to lead the Wolves. Jack Schmidt captured the single season hit record in the fourth with 70 total on the year, only to be tied and broken by Lorenz with a homerun and single in the seventh and tenth. Seniors Riley Shintaffer and Alex Cornwell tallied three hits apiece in their final game with the Wolves.  Kassidy Gaines started throwing 4.1 innings and striking out three. Also in relief were Cody Johns, James Georgakas, Marcus Manderbach, and Andrew Nichols.
 
Seniors Clayton Nutting, Robert Fahlin, Alex Cornwell, Kassidy Gaines, Buddy Traxler, Eric O'Bryan, Travis Sormaz, John Eckstein, Riley Shintaffer, Kasey Gengler, Mark Abrahamson, Kraig Nelson, Brady Schwan, and Chiquel Davis exhausted their eligibility for NSU.
 
Northern's Record Breaking Season (single season records)

Hitting
Average – Jack Schmidt sits fifth with a .412 average

On Base Percentage – Riley Shintaffer sits third at .481 on the year

Hits – Lucas Lorenz and Jack Schmidt sit first and second with 71 and 70 hits respectively

Doubles – Jack Schmidt (20), Riley Shintaffer (19), and Mark Abrahamson (17) sit one-two-three

Homeruns – Lucas Lorenz is tied for third with 14 this season

Runs Batted In – Lucas Lorenz tallied 52 on the year, which sits second

Runs Scored – Tyler Gripentrog grabbed the single season title with 55

At-Bats – Eric O'Bryan (205), Tyler Gripentrog (193), Lucas Lorenz (186), Buddy Traxler (170), and Jack Schmidt (170) went one-two-three-four

Walks – Tyler Gripentrog and Riley Shintaffer sit first and second with 34 and 32 respectively

Pitching
Wins – Colton Boucher tied in first with seven this season

Strikeouts – Colton Boucher blew past his record from a season ago with 62, Cody Johns sits third with 54

Saves – Marcus Manderbach tied in first with four on the year

Appearances – Marcus Manderbach earned the single season record with 21