Doane Baseball hit the road on Saturday for the first of eight straight road conference games over four dates. The Tigers took on Northwestern in Orange City and would struggle offensively to find the timely hit as they dropped the opener, 3-0. In the second game, Doane rallied to force extra innings and would come up with the clutch hit in the 14th inning as they salvaged a split with the Red Raiders, 6-3. The Tigers have won 17 of their last 18 games as they improved to 22-6 on the year and 11-1 in the GPAC.
In the first game, Doane out-hit Northwestern, 5-3, but the difference came in situational at-bats. The Red Raiders were 8-of-11 in the game when it came to advancing runners while Doane was 3-of-10.
Northwestern scored their first run on a Tiger error in the 2nd inning. They added two runs in the 5th inning, one on a passed ball and another on a sacrifice fly. Doane would get the tying run to the plate in each of the final three innings.
Kellan Voggesser (SO/Fort Collins, Colo.) started on the mound for Doane and went 4.1 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits with five strikeouts. Jackson Stensgard (JR/Maricopa, Ariz.) threw the final 1.2 innings and did not allow a base runner.
Five different players had a hit in the game with Drew Norsen (FR/Loveland, Colo.) collecting the only extra base hit with a double.
In the second game, Doane struck first with a RBI-groundout by Lukas White (JR/Castaic, Calif.) in the 3rd inning only to see Northwestern come back to take a 3-1 lead with a run in the 3rd and two in the 4th inning. Each of the Red Raider runs came with two outs in the inning they were scored in.
Doane would tie the game with two unearned runs, one in the 7th and one in the 8th. Both teams would put two runners on base in the 10th only to come up empty. Thaniel Trumper (SO/Fort Collins, Colo.) kept the Red Raiders off the bases over the next three innings while Doane's best chance came in the 13th inning as they had a runner at third base with no outs. A hard hit ground ball to the first baseman would result in the first out and a line-drive one hopper was snagged by the pitcher, who would get the Tiger runner out trying to get back to third base.
In the 14th inning, Ben Grigsby (SO/Camino, Calif.) led off with a single and was run for by Tanner Black (SO/Elkhorn, Neb.). Brett Meyer (SO/Seward, Neb.) executed a sacrifice bunt and Northwestern elected to intentionally walk Andy Theiler (SR/Arlington, Neb.) to bring up Joe Osborn (SO/Hickman, Neb.). Black and Theiler would pull off a double steal to set-up the go-ahead single by Osborn to plate Black. Logan Amick followed with a sacrifice fly to bring in Theiler and Nate Mensik (SO/Pleasant Dale, Neb.) doubled to drive in Osborn for a 6-3 lead.
In the bottom of the 14th, Northwestern began a rally with a pair of one-out singles to bring the tying run to the plate. Trumper struck out the next batter for the second out of the inning and induced a foul out for the final out of the game.
Trumper finished the game with 7.0 innings of relief pitching to pick up the win, improving to a GPAC-best 6-0 on the season. He held the Red Raiders scoreless, allowing four hits and striking out seven. Kyler Beekman (SO/Elkhorn, Neb.) had the start, throwing 7.0 innings and allowing three runs on eight hits with five strikeouts.
Ten different players had a hit in the game for the Tigers with Mensik as the lone player with multiple hits as he finished with two. Theiler and James Griess (FR/Sutton, Neb.) scored two runs apiece.
