DULUTH, Minn. – Down, 3-2, entering the ninth inning of its second elimination game of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament, the UW-Superior baseball team scored four times for a 6-3 victory over third-seeded Northwestern Friday.
 
With the win, the Yellowjackets (18-21) advance to the championship series against second-seeded Bethany Lutheran Saturday, needing to beat the Vikings twice for a trip to the NCAA tournament. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m., at Wade Stadium.
 
 UWS sent eight men to the plate in the top of the ninth. Jordan Berrios (Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer) and Alex Osness (Wausau, Wis./Wausau West) drew walks off of Northwestern pitcher Bradley Spencer to start the rally before Cory Albertson (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater Area) singled to right field, plating Osness to tie the game, 3-3.
 
Mike Rodriguez (Chicago, Ill./Gordon Tech), in his first at-bat of the night after entering as a pinch runner in the in the eighth, lined a one-out pitch over the second baseman's head, plating Osness with the go-ahead run. The 'Jackets weren't done, though. Three batters later with two out and the bases loaded, Brandon Rolf (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater) roped a two-run single, scoring Travis Miller (Whittier, Calif./La Serna) and Rodriguez.
 
Zach Bennett (Corona, Calif./Santiago) (2-1), who came on for UWS starter Michael Piletich (Somerset, Wis./Somerset) in the seventh inning, worked a scoreless ninth to nail down the win.
 
The 'Jackets outhit, Northwestern (26-17), 13-9, with five players collecting multiple knocks. Rolf overcame three strikeouts to finish 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Albertson, Braeden Barr (San Diego, Calif./Grossmont), Miller and Matthew Boyde (Chanhassen, Minn./Minnetonka) were the others.
 
The Eagles enjoyed leads of 1-0, 2-1,  3-1 and 3-2 before the ninth. 
 
Northwestern opened the scoring in the bottom of the second as Chad Wakabayashi doubled to right-center field to start the inning. With one out, Guerin Szafraniec ripped an RBI single down the right-field line for a 1-0 lead.
 
The 'Jackets knotted the game in the fourth as Albertson singled to left and moved to second on a Barr fly ball. Boyde then reached on an error by Sam Petersen at shortstop, and with runners on first and third, Miller doubled to the gap in left-center field. That plated Albertson for a 1-1 tie.
 
The Eagles regained the lead, 2-1, in the sixth on a Caleb Piersma run-scoring single, plating Wakabayashi from second with two outs. UNW tacked on another for a 3-1 advantage in the seventh off of Bennett. 
 
Andrew Simonson singled to shortstop, moving to second on a sacrifice bunt from Peterson. Carlton Lindow walked, setting up the double play. Bennett induced that groundball to Osness at short, who transferred it to Berrios. His relay to first was wild, allowing Simonson to scamper home.
 
In the top of the eighth, Rolf singled to right to score Rodriguez, cutting it to a 3-2 UNW lead.
 
Piletich went six strong innings, scattering eight hits, allowing two walks and two runs. UNW's Wyatt Morrell pitched one out into the eighth, giving up two runs on 10 hits, while striking out six. Spencer (1-1) allowed four runs on three hits and was tagged with the loss.
 
Simonson and Szafraniec picked up two hits apiece to lead the Eagles at the plate.