The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Golden Eagles Baseball team hit 5 home runs on Thursday to sweep the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Bulldogs in a series played in Duluth. The Golden Eagles took Game 1 with a final score of 5-2 before winning the finale 10-5 to complete the sweep.
GAME ONE –
While it may not have been his best performance this season, the Golden Eagles got another solid outing from their ace Jake Dykhoff (Jr. Wadena, Minn.) and with three home runs on the offensive side of things, the Golden Eagles were able to pick up a much-needed 5-2 victory in Game 1.
Jake Hjelle (So. East Grand Forks, Minn.) got the scoring started in the top of the first inning on a solo home run over the left-center field fence, and the UMC offense was nowhere near being done. In the top of the second inning, Chad Musser (Sr. Plymouth, Minn.) would walk, and another long ball, this time a 2-run shot off the bat of Mitch Goodwin (So. Prior Lake, Minn.) UMC held a 3-0 advantage. The Golden Eagles would then get back-to-back two-out singles from Ben Bryant (Sr. Fargo, N.D.) and Brad Morris (Sr. Auckland, New Zealand), and thanks to a Bulldogs error, plate 1 more run in the inning taking a 4-0 lead after the top of the second.
UMD’s offense would get rolling in the home half of the second inning, with three straight hits scoring 1 run and leaving runners on the corners at first and third base. Dykhoff would settle in and escape the jam with no more damage thanks to three straight strikeouts, preserving the Golden Eagles lead at 4-1 after two innings of play.
Both teams would go scoreless in the third inning, and in the top of the fourth, Musser would hit the third home run of the game for the Golden Eagles, another solo shot giving UMC a 5-1 lead. UMD would have a scoring opportunity in the bottom of the inning, but after a single, Ben Thoma (Sr. Clearbrook, Minn.) would gun the base runner down at second base on a steal attempt. The Bulldogs would get a two-out double after that, but again Dykhoff would get out of the inning.
After a quiet top of the fifth inning for UMC, the Bulldogs would load the bases in the bottom of the frame with 2 outs. With the tying run at the plate, Dykhoff would work out of this jam as well by inducing a flyball and leaving UMC in front 5-1 with two innings remaining.
After a scoreless 6th inning for both teams, the Golden Eagles would go down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, leaving them 3 outs away from the win with a 5-1 lead. Dykhoff would try to go the complete game but after getting the first hitter out, he would allow a single, hit a batter, and then another single would score a UMD run ending Dykhoff’s day. Jakob Wiirre (Jr. Mims, Fla.) would replace Dykhoff with UMC in front 5-2 and runners on first and second base with one out. Wiirre would waste no time getting the next two hitters out on a groundout and a strikeout to give UMC the 5-2 win.
GAME ONE BOX SCORE, CLICK HERE
For UMC –
Chad Musser 2 for 2, HR, 2 runs, rbi, BB
Mitch Goodwin 1 for 3, HR, 2 rbi, run
Jake Hjelle 1 for 3, HR, run, rbi
| Game 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| UMC | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 1 |
| UMD | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Jake Dykhoff- UMC (W, 6-3) | 6.1 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| Jakob Wiirre- UMC (S, 1) | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Aaron Wukmir- UMD (L, 1-3) | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Wyatt O’Bey- UMD | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
GAME TWO –
Game 2 was an offensive battle as both teams found success at the plate. The Golden Eagles bats came out hot once again. Morris would start the game with a leadoff single, and after being advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt, Hjelle would drive him in for an early 1-0 lead. The home runs continued for UMC, as Thoma got in on the action blasting a two-run shot to help UMC take a 3-0 lead before taking the field defensively.
UMD’s offense was also ready to play, and after a leadoff single in the bottom of the first, the Bulldogs would send a towering shot over the left-center field fence to cut the deficit down to 3-2. Jake Osowski (So. East Grand Forks, Minn.) got the start for UMC and would settle in, getting the Golden Eagles back into the dugout still in front 3-2 after the first inning.
UMC would get both runs back in the top of the second. Goodwin would lead off the inning with his second home run of the day, and after Jack Peppel (Sr. Olivia, Minn.), Bryant and Morris all reached base, UMC would have the bases loaded and nobody out forcing the Bulldogs to make a pitching change. Matt Nunn (Jr. Edina, Minn.) would welcome the new pitcher into the game with a rbi single scoring Peppel, but the Bulldogs would get a key double play, and a groundout after that to end the inning, and UMC would lead 5-2. Osowski would pitch a scoreless bottom of the second inning keeping the Golden Eagles in front by three runs after two complete innings of play.
The Golden Eagles would once again get the leadoff hitter on in the top of the third inning thanks to a Ben Goelz (So. Maple Lake, Minn.) single, and two batters later Goodwin would drive him in for another UMC run. After getting out of the inning, UMD would get one hit in the bottom of the frame but nothing more, and the Golden Eagles would take a 6-2 lead into the fourth inning.
UMC would go scoreless in the top of the fourth inning, and after a UMC error to start the bottom of the frame, UMD would capitalize. The Bulldogs would get a one out single scoring a run and cutting the Golden Eagles lead down to 6-3. However, Osowski would get two straight strikeouts to end the inning and UMC would lead 6-3 after four innings of play.
The Golden Eagles would take control of the game for good in the top of the fifth inning with three more runs, all with two outs. Musser singled to begin the inning, Goodwin would get hit by a pitch, and Bryant would knock a 2-out single to score Musser and give the Golden Eagles a 7-3 lead. Morris would follow that up with his third hit of the game scoring Goodwin, and Nunn would double in the next at bat plating Bryant and giving UMC a 9-3 lead. Morris would be thrown out at the plate trying to score on the play, but the damage was already done.
UMD continued to fight and would get two more runs back in the bottom of the fifth to make it 9-5 UMC after five innings. As good as the offenses were, the pitching took center stage in the final four innings of play. UMC would scratch across one more run but that would be it, giving the Golden Eagles a 10-5 win to complete the sweep.
UMD, had the bases loaded in both the sixth and eighth inning, but they left them full. UMC got great pitching out of the bullpen from Isaac Roers (Fr. Stacy, Minn.) to help close the game out. Nine Golden Eagles picked up at least one hit in the win.
UMC improves to 6-10 in NSIC play and 14-21 overall. The Golden Eagles will have a big three-game series this weekend down in Marshall against Southwest Minnesota State University beginning on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Minnesota Duluth falls to 8-12 in the NSIC and 14-19 overall.
GAME TWO BOX SCORE, CLICK HERE
For UMC –
Mitch Goodwin 2 for 4, HR, 2 rbi, 2 runs
Ben Thoma 2 for 5, HR, 2 rbi, run
Matt Nunn 3 for 4, 2 rbi, run
Jake Hjelle 3 for 5, rbi, run
Brad Morris 3 for 5, rbi, run
| Game 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| UMC | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 18 | 1 |
| UMD | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 0 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
| Jake Osowski- UMC (W, 4-0) | 6 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Isaac Roers- UMC | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Eric Hinnenkamp- UMD (L, 0-3) | 1 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Alex Sturnieks- UMD | 4 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Mason Thiel- UMD | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Connor Nygard- UMD | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Zach Kuseske- UMD | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Dylan Wilson- UMD | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
