Baseball Opens Florida Trip With Doubleheader Sweep Over Slippery Rock

AUBURNDALE, FLA. – The Northwood University baseball team opened their annual trip to Florida with a doubleheader sweep over Slippery Rock Saturday afternoon (March 5). Northwood earned a dramatic 6-5 win in game one before picking up a wild 12-7 victory in eight innings in game two.

Northwood is now 4-3 overall on the season. Slippery Rock falls to 2-9.

In the opening game, Northwood plated one run in each of the first three innings, while Slippery Rock scored a pair in the third. The score remained 3-2 NU until the final inning. Slippery Rock had a runner on second with two outs when they rallied for three runs. With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the inning, it appeared the Timberwolves were on their way to a loss. But after a walk, a single and a SRU error, senior shortstop Dustin Lee (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) came up with the bases loaded. On an 0-2 pitch, Lee lined a single to right field which plated a pair and tied the game 5-5. On the next pitch, Cody Kuzniczci (Madeira, Ohio/Northern Kentucky) hit a single to centerfield which plated the winning run for the Timberwolves.

Kuzniczci led the Northwood offense with three hits, a run and an RBI. Lee ended up with three RBIs, while Daniel Pulver (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) had two runs, a hit and two walks. Three Slippery Rock errors led to five unearned runs for the Timberwolves.

Game two was a pitcher's duel until a wild eighth inning in a game scheduled for seven innings. Northwood plated a single run in the first and sixth inning, while SRU scored a pair in the third. In the eighth inning, NU had one run in with two outs when the Timberwolves offense exploded. Thanks to six hits (four singles, one double, one triple), a walk and a hit-by-pitch, Northwood scored nine two-out runs in the inning to open up a 12-2 lead. Slippery Rock put the first five batters on base in the bottom of the inning and scored five runs but Shawn Larner (Gladwin, Mich.) retired the final three batters to close the game out.

Northwood out-hit SRU 15-7 in game two, led by Lee and Pulver. Lee finished the game 3-4 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs. Pulver also went 3-4 while having a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Nick Black (Chesterfield, Mich./Grand Rapids CC) and Brian Dombrowski (Troy, Mich./Athens) each added two hits. Logan Meadors (Oxnard, Calif./Midland Univ.) picked up his first win of the year, allowing two runs on six hits in seven innings of work. He struck out four batters in his 85-pitch effort.

Northwood returns to action Sunday morning (March 6) against Ashland. The non-conference contest will get under way at 9:30 a.m.