Baseball Wins Pair At Milligan To Open Season

OVERVIEW – Milligan

SCORE: Game 1: Northwood 12, Milligan 3 Game 2: Northwood 8, Milligan 6.

RECORDS: Northwood 2-0, (0-0 GLIAC), Milligan 0-2, (0-0 AAC)

LOCATION: Anglin Field, Milligan College  

RECAP: Northwood's bats open the season in full swing, riding strong offense to a pair of road victories at Milligan to start the season 2-0 for the second time in three years. 

Game 1

• Northwood opened the scoring early as the Timberwolves plated a run in the top half of the first inning on an RBI double by Daniel Pulver. Connor Foley, who had doubled earlier in the frame, came into score putting Northwood up 1-0.
• The score would remain 1-0 in favor of Northwood until the top of the third when Grant Bridgewater added to Northwood's lead on an RBI single, scoring Ryan McClelland and making it 2-0 in favor of the Timberwolves.
• NU would blow the game open in the top half of the 5^th, as the Timberwolves sent 12 hitters to the plate and exploded for eight runs on seven hits in the inning.
• Northwood continued to ride the strong start of Kyle Vedrode, as the senior tossed 5.1 innings surrounding three earned runs and striking out four for Northwood to earn his first win of the 2017 campaign.
• Milligan added three in the home half of the sixth, but Northwood responded with a run of their own immediately after in the top of the seventh on a Daniel Pulver sacrifice fly that scored Austin Gonser, who had singled earlier in the inning.  
• Northwood added one more in the ninth for good measure and closed out the 12-3 win to open the season 1-0.

GAME 1 STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 12/17/0 Milligan 3/8/3
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 11 Milligan: 9
• Winning Pitcher: Kyle Vedrode (1-0) 5.1 IP, 7H, 3ER, 3BB, 4SO
• Losing Pitcher: Chandlier Daniels (1-2) 4.1 IP, 8H, 7ER, 3BB,  1SO

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Daniel Pulver (4-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI)
• Connor Foley (3-5, 2R, 2 RBI)
• Grant Bridgewater (2-5, 2 RBI)

GAME 1 NOTES

• Head Coach Jordan Bischel is undefeated in opening day games at Northwood (5-0).
• The 17 hits on opening day tie the most ever in program history. In 2001, Northwood had 17 hits against Norwich in a 21-7 win in Fort Pierce, Florida. In 2010 on opening day, Northwood had 16 hits in a 13-12 win over West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Game 2

• In the hopes of earning a split for the day, Milligan came out of the gates in game two swinging a hot bat and plating a crooked number, scoring 3 to open up a 3-0 lead after the first inning of play.
• Northwood answered right back with two of their own in the top of second, compliments of an RBI single by Brian Dombrowski scoring David Vinsky who had swiped second on a stolen base after a single of his own. To cap the frame, Dombrowski would later score on a Milligan throwing error, resulting in Northwood leading 7-3 heading to the bottom of the fourth.
• The Timberwolves would pull ahead and take the lead for good after following up the pair of runs in the second with a pair of runs in the third, and a three spot in the top of the fourth, highlighted by a 2 RBI single off the bat of Javier Martinez plating Connor Foley and Brooks Ullery
• Milligan added a run in the home half of the fifth, but Northwood answered back with a run in the sixth on Ryan McClelland's first big fly of the season to maintain the four run edge. In the bottom of the eighth, the Buffalos would make it interesting by plating two runs to cut the lead down to 8-6, but in the bottom of the ninth, Northwood's Max Bain slammed the door shut putting Milligan down in order to earn his first save of the season and preserve the victory for Northwood, 8-6.

GAME 2 STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood: 8/13/2 Milligan 6/9/1
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 8 Milligan: 8
• Winning Pitcher:  Logan Meadors (1-0) 5.1 IP, 7H, 4R, 3ER, 2BB, 2SO
• Losing Pitcher: Luke Spaulding (1-2)
• Save: Max Bain (1)

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Ryan McClelland (2-3, HR(1) 1RBI)
• David Vinsky (3-5, 1RBI)

GAME 2 NOTES

• Northwood starts the season 2-0 for the second time in the last three years.
• Head Coach Jordan Bischel is 4-0 in Opening Day double headers at Northwood.
• The two games at Anglin Field marked the first home games for Milligan of the 2017 season.

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will travel to Jefferson City, Tennessee to take on Carson-Newman for a 3 game weekend series beginning with a game on Friday (February 17).  First pitch is scheduled for 2 pm.