Baseball Defeats Pace & No. 6 West Chester - NU Has Now Won Five Straight

OVERVIEW – PACE/#6 WEST CHESTER

SCORES: Northwood Timberwolves 3, Pace Setters 2/Northwood 5, No. 6 West Chester Golden Rams 1

RECORDS: Northwood 11-6, Pace 5-3-1, West Chester 10-3

LOCATION: Osceola County Stadium – Kissimmee, Florida

RECAP: Northwood extends their winning streak to five games with a pair of wins Thursday (March 14), defeating Pace 3-2 before downing No. 6 West Chester 5-1.

NU/PACE HIGHLIGHTS

• Pace got a two-out single in the opening inning to go up 1-0.
• Northwood bounced back with a run in the top of the second, thanks to a sacrifice fly by Keaton Sackett to tie the game.
• The two starting pitchers kept the game locked at 1-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Setters had a two-out rally for a run that put them on top 2-1.
• The key stretch of the game was the top of the eighth, when NU plated a pair. David Vinsky had an RBI double to tie the score, which was followed by a Javier Martinez sacrifice play to give the Timberwolves the lead 3-2.
• Lennon Gwizdala came in to record the final four outs of the game to close out the victory.

NU/PACE GAME STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 3/8/2, Pace: 2/10/1
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 9, Pace: 15
• Winning Pitcher: Nathan Langenfeld (1-0) 1 IP, H, BB
• Losing Pitcher: Dan Wirchansky (2-1) 8 IP, 8 H, 3 R (2 ER), 6 K, 0 BB
• Save: Lennon Gwizdala (4) 2 IP, H, 3 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Vinsky: 2-5 2 2B, RBI
• Ziegler: 2-4
• Martinez/Sackett: RBI each
• Jake Gross: ND, 5 IP, 6 H, R, 6 K, 3 BB

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• Entering his start today, Pace's Dan Wirchansky was 2-0 on the year with a 0.53 ERA in two starts. He had 30 strikeouts and zero walks in 17 innings of work in those games.
• With two doubles against Pace, Vinsky moved into third place in school history with 36 career doubles. He is only 16 games into his sophomore season.

NU/WEST CHESTER HIGHLIGHTS

• Northwood plated a run in the top of the first inning on an RBI single by Javier Martinez to put the Timberwolves on top 1-0.
• The Golden Rams tied the score with an unearned run in the third inning.
• Northwood came right back in the top of the fourth inning thanks to a two-out rally. After Colin McClelland walked, Nick Palmer drove a ball deep into the gap for a triple to put NU back on top 2-1.
• The score remained that way until the seventh when senior catcher Brian Dombrowski put the game away. He drilled a three-run homer to left, his second homer in the last two days, to make the score 5-1.
• That was all the duo of Tyler Jandron and Lennon Gwizdala would need. Jandron went eight plus innings, allowing one unearned run while striking out seven. Gwizdala then recorded the final three outs to close out a game for the second time today

NU/WEST CHESTER GAME STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 5/7/3, West Chester: 1/3/1
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 5, West Chester: 7
• Winning Pitcher: Tyler Jandron (3-1): 8+ IP, 3 H (all singles), R (0 ER), 7 K, 4 BB
• Losing Pitcher: Bill Ford (0-1) 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 K, 2 BB

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Dombrowski: HR (2), 3 RBIs
• Palmer: 3B, RBI
• Martinez: 1-3, RBI, BB

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• Dombrowski entered the Florida trip with a .071 batting average (1-14) with one RBI. He now has an average of .289 with nine RBIs after batting .370 (10-27) while driving in eight in six games in Florida.
• Jandron has lowered his ERA to 0.65 on the season with his win. He has 37 strikeouts in 27 2/3 innings of work.
• Jandron is now 15-2 with a 1.97 ERA in his two-year career at Northwood. His 15 wins are fourth in program history, while his ERA is good for third.
• West Chester is currently ranked No. 6 in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll. The Golden Rams are the defending Division II national champions.

QUOTING HEAD COACH JORDAN BISCHEL

• On the Pace win: "That was probably the best pitcher we have seen this year. I thought he was outstanding. We did a really good job competing, but I thought we might come up a little bit short. Our pitching hung in there and allowed us to stay close until David (Vinsky) got the big hit late."
• On the West Chester: "West Chester is the real deal. They are a big, strong, athletic team that will be contender to win it all again."
• On Brian Dombrowski: "He has worked so hard in his time here – he is one of the most improved players I've ever worked with."
• On Tyler Jandron: "Tyler is always going to compete. He loves to be in the big spot. He did a great job today getting the ball to Lennon (Gwizdala)."
• On the team's pitching: "We have come to expect it with our top guys, but the depth of our pitching has really shown through lately. As a whole, our pitching has been very good."

UP NEXT

• Northwood will have a rematch against Pace Friday (March 16). Game time is set for 11 a.m.