Northwestern 10, UW-Superior 9  

DULUTH, Minn. (May 11, 2018) –  Superior held a lead through most of their elimination game Friday afternoon, but the Northwestern Eagles rallied in the final two innings to bounce the Yellowjackets from the UMAC Tournament.

The first three innings were a pitcher duel as each team found one hit and Ryan Rodriguez (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) struck out five. Nick McNosky (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) got things started in the top of the fourth reaching on an error and advancing to second. Cory Albertson (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater) then scored him on a single up the middle. With Albertson on second, Matthew Boyde (Chanhassen, Minn./Minnetonka) stepped up to the plate and launched an opposite-field home run for a 3-0 'Jacket lead.

The Eagles would capitalize in their next half inning, tying the game at 3-3 on three hits.

The top of the seventh saw another good inning for Superior when Brandon Rolf (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater) singled to left and advanced to second and third on a Stephen Albertson (Stillwater, Minn/Stillwater) sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. Alex Osness (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) then proved he could hit the deep ball with a home run to right center to make it a 5-3 game.

Two more runs were added in the inning when C. Albertson collected a double that scored Greg Pitts (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel) and Jordan Berrios (Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) for a more comfortable 7-3 lead.

 Superior continued to hit the ball well in the top of the eighth when Boyde reached on an error and Brandon Rolf (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater) doubled to put runners in scoring position. After a pitching change from the Eagles, Boyde scored on a wild pitch for 8-3. Then, S. Albertson put a double to center to score Rolf for a six-run lead headed to the bottom of the ninth.

The Eagles started their rally in the bottom of the eighth, scoring two runs on three hits and leaving one runner on. In the bottom of the ninth, the Eagles put together six hits and scored five runs, including the walk-off double to right center for the 10-9 win.

Pitts led the Yellowjackets with three hits on four at-bats, while C. Albertson and Rolf both had two hits.

Up Next

The Yellowjackets will look to improve heading into the 2018-19 season, saying goodbye to nine seniors while retaining a ton of good hitting and pitching talent.