The #3 Northwood baseball team claimed a share of the Sun Conference title with a sweep of Thomas on Friday afternoon. The Seahawks took game one 7-4, and game two 13-6.
The Sun Conference title is the first in program history, and the 37 wins also set a single season record
Game One
Northwood jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first on RBI singles through the left side by Luis Roman and Ryan Palenzuela. Thomas answered with three runs in the second tying it at 3-3. However, the Seahawks regained a 4-3 advantage in the third on a throw down to second by the catcher allowing the runner from third to score.
Keivan Berges extended the margin to 5-3 when he homered to left on the first pitch of the fifth inning. Jesus Fuenmayor upped it to 6-3 with an RBI single up the middle in the sixth. The Night Hawks platted a run in the eighth trimming it to 6-4, but the Seahawks responded in the ninth with a run winning 7-4.
Cody Gray picked up the win (7-2) going seven innings striking out seven. Jonathan Clarke threw the final two innings of the game.
Andrew Danner, Casey Mullennix, and Palenzuela led the way with two hits apiece.
Game Two
The Seahawks took a 1-0 lead in the first on a sacrifice fly to right by Carlos Contreras, but Thomas knotted it at 1-1 in the bottom half. The Night Hawks tacked a run on in the third and fifth to lead 3-1, when Northwood pushed six runs across in the seventh.
A passed ball produced the first and a two run RBI single through the left side by Contreras made it 4-3. A triple by Roman platted two runs extending the lead to 6-3 and a single by Palenzuela made it 7-3. Thomas cut into the defecit in the bottom half with two runs making it 7-5, but the Seahawks blew the game open in the ninth with six runs.
Tyler Goff pushed the lead to 8-5 on an RBI single to the shortstop, and two errors upped it to 10-5. Contreras sealed the scoring with a three run double to right expanding the lead to 13-5. However, the Night Hawks scored a run in the ninth falling 13-6.
Alan Carey got the win (4-0) going six innings, striking out seven. Weston Wuthrich picked up his second save of the year. Danner led the way at the plate with three hits.
"I am very proud of my guys, said Head Coach Jeremy Kennedy. They have done an outstanding job all year and today was no different. We didn't look great all day but we got the job done. This group has made a season of just getting the job done. Cody was good as usual. He was struggling with his footing on the mound early but figured it out and settled in giving us another quality start.
Kennedy went on to say "Carlos was big today as well, he has been a rock all year behind the plate. He came through with two big hits in game two after catching both games. What he does for our team is special. This is a big accomplishment for our program, it was one of our goals at the beginning of the year. I'm happy for my team, they deserve this success. Now we will go back to work on chasing down some more goals."
With the sweep, the Seahawks move their winning streak to 18 games and a 37-7 overall record and 21-2 Sun Conference mark. Both teams conclude the series tomorrow with a first pitch of 12:00 p.m.
