Tucson, Ariz. – In their fifth day of spring training action, the Northern State University baseball team defeated Malone University 13-8. The Wolves improve to 4-1 overall and faced the Pioneers again Saturday morning, falling 7-5 in the game. NSU heads into Sunday action with a 4-2 record this season.
Friday - Game 1 Northern tallied 19 hits and 13 runs in the victory, scoring in six of the nine innings of play.
Matt Stubbs led the team going 5-for-5 offensively with a double, two runs scored, and two runs batted in.
Lucas Lorenz was second on the team going 4-for-5 with a double, a homerun, three runs scored, and two runs batted in.
Tyler Gripentrog,
Jack Schmidt,
Chris Gonzales, and
Ben Allen each added two hits apiece, while Gonzales and Schmidt notched a homerun and double respectively in the win.
Zach Beatty and
Braden Goldade tallied the team's final two hits of the game.
Nick Hoffard made the start for the Wolves throwing 7.1 innings. Hoffard faced 32 batters, giving up five earned runs on 12 hits, and striking out two.
Marcus Manderbach entered and threw 1.2 innings of relief for NSU, giving up just one hit and striking out two in six batters faced.
The Wolves opened the scoring in the top of the first inning. Gripentrog singled and advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt by the Pioneers. With two outs,
Matt Stubbs stepped and belted his third homerun of the season, putting the Wolves up 2-0. Malone answered back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs of their own.
Northern trailed 6-5 heading into the fifth inning and broke the game open in the top half.
Jack Schmidt double to open the rally for the Wolves, followed by a single by
Matt Stubbs scoring Schmidt on the play.
Chris Gonzales stepped to the plate and notched the team's second homerun of the game, giving Northern the 8-6 lead.
Lucas Lorenz added to the lead just two batters later, with a long ball of his own.
The Wolves led 9-6 through five complete, adding four more runs in the seventh and eighth. Malone University added two runs in the eighth, however it was not enough to overcome the NSU lead.
Saturday - Game 2 In the second day if action with Malone university the Wolves fell 7-5. Northern tallied a big inning in the second with four runs, however only scored one more run in the eighth inning of play. NSU tallied seven hits in the game and gave up four errors on defense.
Matt Stubbs and
Kolin Kubitz led the team with two hits each in the game. Stubbs tallied two homeruns, bringing his season total to five, while adding two runs scored and two RBI.
Easton Lopez,
Lucas Lorenz, and
Mikey Barreneche notched the team's final hits of the game, with Lorenz tallying a double.
Matt Stubbs led off the NSU second with a homerun to left.
Lucas Lorenz stepped to the plate, with one out, and connected for a ground rule double to left.
Preston Brown followed with a walk, and
Kolin Kubitz scored Lorenz on a single to left. With runners on the corners, after a Kubitz stolen base,
Mikey Barreneche tallied a single through the left side, clearing the bases. Through two complete the Wolves led the Pioneers 4-1, however were unable to string together hits in the successive innings.
Phil Sauer started for the Wolves throwing five complete innings. Sauer faced 24 batters, giving up four earned runs on nine hits and striking out two.
Nate Zeise and
Dillon Lee entered in relief for NSU. Zeise gave up two earned runs on three hits, while Lee held the Pioneers scoreless through three innings of action with four strikeouts.
