ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The UW-Superior baseball team shook up the 2022 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference baseball tournament on Thursday, surprising top-seeded Northwestern for an 11-5 victory in the opening round at Reynolds Field.
 
The Yellowjackets (18-19) got a stellar complete-game win from senior left-hander Ryan Rodriguez (Chaska, Minn./Chaska) and all its offense over the second, third and fourth innings to advance to a winner's bracket date with second-seeded Crown Friday at 4 p.m. The Polars beat Bethany Lutheran, 9-6, in the first game of the day.
 
Rodriguez (7-4) struck out 11, scattered 11 hits and three walks and allowed five earned runs in throwing 147 pitches. He held the Eagles off the scoreboard two outs into the seventh when Sam Peterson (2-for-5, four RBIs) hit a two-run home run on a 3-2 pitch to negate the 10-run from going into effect at 11-2.
 
UWS banged out 17 hits and Christian Garcia (Blue Springs, Mo./Blue Springs) and Ryan Castaneda (San Pedro, Calif./Junipero Serra) each smashed two-run homers in a four-run fourth to extend the lead to 11-0.
 
The Yellowjackets -- the only team to beat Northwestern right-hander Bryce Crabb this season when they topped UNW 6-4 on April 2 -- did it again Friday. Crabb (8-2) lasted just three innings after being touched for seven earned runs on 11 hits. Nick Drinken didn't fare better, giving up the two dingers in his one inning.
 
UWS got on the scoreboard with three runs in the top of the second inning. Sam McNosky (Minneapolis, Minn./DeLaSalle) shot a single to right field and Bryce Flanagan (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd Senior) and chugged through a stop sign at third base to score with a headfirst slide for the lead.
 
Nick Fredrikson's (Minneapolis, Minn./St. Anthony Village) RBI single to right scored Jordan Trimble (Victorville, Calif./Grandview (Colo.)), and with two out, Payton Steiner (Baraboo, Wis./Baraboo) singled to left to score Fredrikson, making it 3-0.
 
In the third, Flanagan doubled to the gap in left-center field, scoring Garcia, who singled, to push the lead to 4-0. Castaneda followed with a single to left to plate Flanagan for a 5-0 edge.  Jordan Trimble (Victorville, Calif./Grandview (Colo.)) then lined a double over the head of the center fielder, and after a lineout, Fredrikson doubled to left center, bringing home Trimble. Next up, Ben Rhodes (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) hit an RBI single to left that scored Fredrickson.
 
Brandon Welch came on in the fifth to steady the game on the mound for Northwestern. He limited UWS to three hits over the final five innings. The Eagles (23-13) made things interesting with three runs in the ninth with a two-run double from Peterson, and crept closer when Guerin Szafraniec singled and Peterson scored on an error on the play.
 
The top of the Superior lineup -- Fredrikson, Rhodes and Steiner -- went 7-for-15 with two doubles, two runs scored and four RBIs. Fredrickson was 3-for-6 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBIs himself.
 
Castaneda was 2-for-5 with his sixth career homer, a double, walk and three runs driven in. Garcia was 2-for-5 with two runs and his seventh career bomb.
 
The 'Jackets hit seven extra-base hits and went 6-for-14 with two out and 8-of-17 in RBI opportunities.

The game featured a one-hour lightning delay in the top of the sixth inning.