UMAC Game of the Week: Crown at Northwestern - Baseball
UMAC Game of the Week Archives
The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Game of the Week is a feature that takes place each week throughout the conference portion of the season with one contest being selected and highlighted as the UMAC Game of the Week.
This week’s UMAC Games of the Week will take place on Friday and Saturday, May 1 and 2 as Crown College travels to Northwestern for a three game UMAC weekend series. Heading into the series the two teams both have hopes of earning a UMAC Postseason Tournament berth. The Eagles currently sit in fourth place in the league standings with a 10-8 conference record while the Storm are in sixth place at 7-10.
About the Eagles
Northwestern needs at least one victory in this weekend’s three-game series to advance to the UMAC Tournament for the seventh consecutive year. The Eagles have an opportunity to earn any of the second through fourth seeds in next week’s league postseason finale. Prior to last week’s losses at St. Scholastica, Northwestern had won its previous four UMAC series.
Offensively, UNW head coach Dave Hieb has received the most production from the top of his lineup. Leadoff hitter Braxton Lindow currently leads the team with a .350 batting average and is the only Eagle to have started all 35 games this season. Lindow’s 13 extra base hits and 25 runs batted in are second only to Tyler Osborn, who has been a staple at the No. 3 spot in the batting order. Osborn offers both speed and power as he owns top five marks in the UMAC in doubles, triples, home runs, and stolen bases.
Things were looking good for the Northwestern pitching staff until last weekend in Duluth, when the team ERA took a jump. UNW’s top two starters in Connor Olson and Troy Nelson will attempt to regain their usual marks from the bump, while Benjamin Jenney is likely to be the first guy out of the bullpen for the Eagles. Jenney has made 17 relief appearances in 2015, and is second on the team in ERA at 3.43. If history continues itself, Tucker Morrell will get the ball in Saturday’s second game.
About the Storm
Crown College enters this weekend against Northwestern with a long shot of making the UMAC postseason playoff. Currently at sixth in the UMAC with a 7-10 record, Crown would need a clean sweep of the fourth place Eagles who are sitting at 10-8. Crown has already far surpassed last year’s win total of three conference wins and own a win over every conference team except St. Scholastica and Northwestern, who they have not played yet this season. Northwestern won all three meetings between the teams last year.
Crown is led by the bats of Harry Ballantyne, Daryl Taylor, and David Cruz. Cruz leads the team in batting average and doubles while Ballantyne owns the team lead in hits and runs batted in. Taylor has played extremely well since coming back from injury early in the season to hit .339 on the season and is second on the team in RBIs. Pitchers Brandon Hudson, Jonathan Matity, and Ryan Denison will all need to perform well for the thin pitching corps of the Storm. Josh Flanders has been extremely effective at times in his middle relief appearances.
Game Notes
Northwestern leads the all-time series that dates back to 1976 by a 107-14 count. The Eagles have won their last 12 games against Crown dating to 2010.
Since April 23, the Eagles have played each of their last six games on turf. The same will be true for the remaining five games on the regular season schedule as well as if UNW advances to the UMAC Tournament, which will be played on an artificial surface at Wade Stadium in Duluth, Minn.
Crown’s Harry Ballantyne currently has 33 hits and 20 RBIs on the season for the Storm, leading the team.
With 354 career victories and 765 total games, UNW’s Dave Hieb has more wins and games coached than any other UMAC head coach.
Northwestern Recap | Crown Recap |
Final Scores: UNW 9, CC 1; UNW 14, CC 3; UNW 12, CC 11
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