Offense Carries Baseball To Doubleheader Sweep Over Walsh

OVERVIEW –  WALSH

SCORES: Northwood Timberwolves 19, Walsh Cavaliers 5/Northwood Timberwolves 21, Walsh Cavaliers 7

RECORDS: Northwood (32-16, 23-5 GMAC), Walsh (22-21, 16-12 GMAC)

LOCATION: Gerace Stadium – Midland, Mich.

RECAP: Northwood baseball gets a big day from its offense in a doubleheaders sweep over Walsh Sunday (April 30),

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS (SEVEN INNINGS)

• Jacob Rybicki led off the inning with a double to get the Timberwolves started. He was brought home with a single to the left side from Matt Magno.
• Blake Salamon added an RBI double to plate Magno.
• With two outs, Alex Cole kept the offense alive with an RBI double to right center.  
• Carson Longstreth then delivered his third homerun out of his last four at bats. The two-run shot to left field plated Cole to make the score 5-0.
• Joey Johnston followed with a double down the right field line to score David Jeffers and bring back the start of the lineup.
• Rybicki's RBI single plated Johnston, which was followed by Magno's two-run single. That gave him three RBIs in the first inning and made the score 9-0 after one inning.
• A two-run home run for the Cavaliers in the top of the second cut into the NU lead and putting the score at 9-2.
• Walsh plated two more runs to make the score 9-4 in the top of the third.
• The Timberwolves then came up with their second big inning of the contest in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles down the left field line from Evans and Cole gave Northwood their tenth run of the contest.
• Jeffers followed with an RBI bunt single, and Johnston added a single to center field to drive in Jeffers to get the lead to 11-4.
• Rybicki came up just short of a homerun, hitting a deep double to left field and putting Johnston at third. Myles Beale's RBI single plated Johnston.
• Magno then delivered a triple down the right field line to plate two runs. A sacrifice fly from Salamon pushed Magno across the plate, wrapping up another huge inning for the Timberwolves as they scored seven  runs in the fourth for the 16-4 lead.
• A bases-loaded walk gave NU scored Longstreth in the bottom of the fifth as Rybicki was hit by a pitch. Beale added a fielder's choice RBI, followed a single by Magno that drove in Johnston for the Timberwolves to extend their lead to 19-4.
• An RBI groundout for the Cavaliers in the top of the seventh put the final score at 19-5.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 19/20/0, Walsh 5/8/3
• Runners left on base: Northwood 5, Walsh 9
• Winning Pitcher: Grant LaMarche – (1-2): 2 IP, H
• Losing Pitcher: Alex Beyerle – (3-5): 0.2 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 0 BB, 0 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Magno: 4-5, 2 R, 6 RBI
• Rybicki: 3-4, 3 R, 2 RBI
• Longstreth: 3-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR
• Johnston: 2-4, 3 R, 2 RBI
• Cole: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI
• Jeffers: 2-2, 3 R, RBI
• Salamon: 2-4, R, 2 RBI

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS (SCHEDULED FOR NINE INNINGS)

• In the same fashion as the first game, the Timberwolf offense exploded in the first inning. Rybicki started the second game of the day with a double. He was brought home with a single to center field from Magno.
• Salamon's bomb to center field left no doubts, scoring three runs on his 18th home run of the season.
• A double to left center from Caden Duryea plated Cole.
• Beale's double to right center cleared the loaded bases as Northwood posted nine runs in the first inning, mirroring the 9-0 start from the first game. 
• In the second inning, Rhett Evans hit a double off the wall in left field and was then brought home as Duryea reached first on a fielding error. A sacrifice fly by Johnston scored Duryea to extend the NU advantage to 11-0.
• Walsh plated two runs in the top of the third, putting the score at 11-2.
• Northwood posted their fourth and final big inning of the game in the bottom of the fourth. With Johnston up to bat with the bases loaded, he was hit by a pitch to score a run.
• Ben Clark then added an RBI single to left field to plate Duryea.
• A deep double by Beale drove in Clark and Johnston.
• Magno followed up with a fielder's choice to shortstop to drive in Clark.
• Two more runs were brought in for the Timberwolves with yet another deep double off the wall, this time from Duryea.
• Jeffers capped the 10-run inning with a three-run homer to put the Timberwolves on top 21-2
• Walsh put up five runs in the sixth to get within 14 but were unable to cut the margin below 10 after seven innings, giving the win to Northwood.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 21/15/1, Walsh 7/11/4
• Runners left on base: Northwood 4, Walsh 9
• Winning Pitcher: Kendall Anthens (4-1): 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, BB, 6 K
• Losing Pitcher: Justin Malloy: 0 IP, 5 H, 7 R, BB

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Beale: 3-4, 2 2B, R, 5 RBIs
• Duryea 3-4, 2 2B, 4 R, 4 RBIs
• Jeffers: 2-3, HR, 3 R, 3 RBIs
• Evans: 2-3, 2 2B, 3 RBIs
• Salamon: HR, 3 RBIs

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• Northwood finished the day with 35 total hits, 20 of which were extra-base hits (16 doubles, one triple, three home runs)
• With four games to go, Northwood (23-5) holds a two-game lead over Ashland (22-7) for the G-MAC regular season championship.

UP NEXT

• Northwood will host its final regular season series against Lake Erie starting with a doubleheader Thursday (May 4). First pitch is set for 3 p.m.