Cougars earn third seed in the UMAC tournament with another win of Northland College.
(Pictured right-Nick Hervin)
For immediate release: May 6th, 2007, Ashland, WI – The Cougars have been known for their offense all year, but Saturday afternoon they were known for something else. Chad Christianson (Sr., Verndale MN) picked up his fourth win of the year, and brought his pitching record back to even in the process. Nick Hervin (Jr., Cold Spring MN), despite taking a loss in game two, was just four outs away from pitching a no hitter. In one of the first games of the late season where the Cougars didn’t score double digit runs, they’re pitching really made up the difference.
UMM wasn’t lacking any base hits in game one, they had eleven, but only managed to pick up three runs. If you’ve come to any Cougar baseball games this season, you know that three runs is usually not enough.
Usually was not the case this weekend.
UMM jumped out to a lead in the first inning, and held it to the very end. The Cold Spring connection of Hervin and Greg Roth (Jr., Cold Spring MN) started things out early, with Roth hitting a double to score Hervin, after Hervin reached on a base hit of his own.
The Cougars would light up the scoreboard again in the third. Leading off with a single, Eric Smolensky (Sr., Buffalo MN) would score on the next at bat off of a double in the gap by Nick Hervin. Joe Fayden (Sr., Great Falls MT) would single and move Hervin over to third, and allowed him to score the next at bat, despite UMM hitting into a double play.
The scoring went dead for both teams until Northland gave a little scare in the sixth. They picked up a couple of hits and managed to put a run on the board, setting the score at 3-1, and leaving a save opportunity open for Andy Schuster (Fr., Alberta MN)
Schuster came in to pitch the seventh, and made things a little interesting for himself. A couple of walks put runners and first and second with one out, but a baserunning mistake by Northland turned a simple fly ball out into a 7-4 double play, and got Schuster the save, and gave Christianson a 3-1 win.
Christianson, in his six innings of work, allowed just four hits while striking out two. That fourth win marks a career high for Christianson, surpassing the three win mark he set last year. The save was Schuster’s first of the year.
Offensively, Nick Hervin went 2-3 with two runs scored, and an RBI. Dan Folie (Jr., Fridley MN) had a multi hit game, at 2-4, and Greg Roth had the games’ other RBI, and went 1-3.
Game two was on track to the same type of situation. In fact Northland College did not have a hit until there were two outs in the sixth inning. But they found a way to squeeze all the runs they could out of their last out.
The Cougar’s sole run came in the fourth, and was given to them on an error by Northland that scored Dan Folie from second, after Folie walked and stole his way to second.
That one run looked like it was going to be enough, with Hervin cruising nearly all game.
Northland was able to turn things around in the sixth, score all their runs, and getting all their hits, with two outs in the innings.
After scoring five runs, they didn’t leave the Cougars much time for a comeback, and went on to win the game 5-1.
As mentioned earlier, Hervin was just an inning and a third away from a no hitter, and the Cougar’s fifth win in a row. He gave up just four hits, all in the sixth, and struck out three over his six innings of work.
Joe Fayden was the games only multiple hitter, going 2-4. Dan Folie scored the games only run, and Kevin Pope (Jr., Ely MN) and Matt Throngard (Fr., Grantsburg WI) each had one of the game’s other two hits, both going 1-3.
The two wins in this series gave the Cougars the third seed in the UMAC tournament this week, and they will play Bethany Lutheran College on Thursday in the tournament’s opening game. Start time is scheduled for 9:00 AM on St. Scholastica’s field in Duluth, MN.
 | .jpg) |
| Minnesota-Morris | 3 | 11 | 0 |
| Northland College | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Game 1 |
Box Score
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| Minnesota-Morris | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Northland College | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| Game 2 |
Box Score
