Bethany drops series to Northwestern to open Florida trip

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (March 10) - The Bethany College baseball team was defeated in both games of its opening series on spring break by Northwestern (Minn.) Saturday afternoon in a non-conference doubleheader.

THE MATCHUP

• Game 1 Final: Northwestern 4, Bethany 1 (Box Score)
• Game 2 Final: Northwestern 6, Bethany 3 (Box Score)
• Records: Bethany 0-4 | Northwestern 2-4
• Location: Lawnwood Complex | Fort Pierce, Florida

GAME 1: Northwestern 4, Bethany 1

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Bison tabbed junior pitcher Nick Gross (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) to start game one and he opened the trip with a pair of strikeouts to start the game and two clean innings.
• Northwestern finally broke through with its first hit off of Gross in the third inning with a double and a two-run home run to take a 2-0 lead.
• The Eagles manufactured another run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth to build a 3-0 lead.
• Bethany got on the board with a sacrifice fly of its own off of the bat of junior John Lee (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington), but the Bison were retired in order in the seventh to close out the game.

TEAM LEADERS

• Gross (0-2) was charged with the loss. He allowed four runs on eight hits with a career-best eight strikeouts, while pitching a complete-game (seven innings).
• Senior outfielder Kelaen Welch (Follansbee, W.Va./Brooke) was 2-for-2 with a run scored to lead the Bison offense.

GAME 2: Northwestern 6, Bethany 3

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Bethany jumped out to the lead in the first inning thanks to a Lee triple to lead off the game. Freshman Kiefer Bishop (Pittsburgh, Pa./OLSH) delivered a RBI-groundout to bring Lee home and give the Bison a 1-0 lead.
• Northwestern scored two runs on three hits in the bottom half of the first inning, but the Bison answered.
• Junior first baseman Tyler Frazee (Markleysburg, Pa./Uniontown) led the second inning off with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by senior catcher Ben Gavlik (Hong Kong/Hong Kong International) to tie the game at 2-2.
• Frazee continued to see the ball well in the fourth inning when he homered over the left field wall to give Bethany a 3-2 lead.
• The Eagles took advantage of a pair of walks in the bottom half of the fourth and tied the game at 3-3 with a two-out single.
• After both teams were retired in order in the fifth, Bethany put runners on first and second with singles by sophomore Kevin Marthinsen (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) and Frazee, but were unable to push any runs across.
• Aided by a pair of errors and a double, Northwestern plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 6-3 lead.
• Bethany put the first two batters on base in the seventh, but the Eagles retired the next three hitters to close out the two-game sweep.

TEAM LEADERS

• Frazee finished the game 3-for-3 with a home run, double, and two runs scored.
• Freshman Luke Gapinski (McKees Rocks, Pa./OLSH) went the first three innings and struck out five, while yielding two runs on three hits. Freshman Joey Hess (Pittsburgh, Pa./Quaker Valley) was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs (zero earned) on one hit in two-thirds of an inning of relief. 

UP NEXT:

• Bethany will play Norwich for a doubleheader at historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida tomorrow afternoon.
• Game one is scheduled to begin around 11 a.m.