By: Scott DCamp, Northland Communications
Thief River Falls, Minn. -
The Northland baseball team swept Minnesota North College - Vermilion Saturday and Sunday, April 6-7 at Pioneer Field. The four-game sweep gave the Pioneers their first 4-0 start to MCAC North division play since 2007. The 2007 Pioneers started division play 11-0.
The Pioneers won Saturday's game one with a walkoff 5-4 win. The Pioneers trailed 4-2 through five and a half innings.
Justin Amesquita hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to make it a one-run game. Freshman lefty
Aidan Powell, who entered the game in relief of starter
Dennis Ashley with one out in the top of the fifth, retired the side in the top of the seventh to keep the Pioneers within a run. In the bottom half of the inning, Tyler Tamaz drew a one-out walk and Mata reached on an error and advanced to second with Tamez advancing to third. Tamez scored the game-tying run on a single by
Connor Hoyt, with Mata moving to third. Hoyt stole second, with
Odhan Manhas flying out to left for the second out. One inning after he homered, Amsquita was intentionally walked to load the bases. With the bases loaded and two outs, freshman
Gamaliel Vasquez singled on a line drive to right field to score Mata from third and give the Pioneers the 5-4 win.
The Pioneers got the first of two complete game pitching efforts in Saturday's game two. Hoyt got the start and allowed one earneed run on four hits over seven innings of work. He struck out four batters and walked four. Hoyt and Manhas each batted in a pair of runs as the Pioneers claimed the nightcap 8-1.
The Pioneers got another pitching gem in Sunday's opener as Mata moved from behind the plate to the mound to pitch a complete game shutout in game three. The sophomore hurler walked three, struck out six Ironhawk batters and allowed just one hit in the Pioneers' 6-0 win.
Game two of Sunday's doubleheader and the final game of the four-game weekend series was a shootout from the start. The Pioneers plated three runs in the top of the first, but the Ironhawks answered quickly with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning. The Pioneers struck again with four runs in the fourth to take a 7-2 lead, but the Ironhawks again answered in the bottom half of the inning with five runs to tie the game 7-7. The Pioneers scored single tallies in the fifth and sixth to go in front 9-7, but the Ironhawks answered the second time with a run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 9-8 going into each team's final regulation at-bat. A little over 24 hours after winning in a walk-off, the Pioneers ensured that the Ironhawks wouldn't be able to do the same by scoring four runs in the top of the seventh. The Ironhawks got one run back in the bottom of the seventh, but it wasn't enough, as the Pioneers took the finale 13-9.
As a team, the Pioneers collected 11 hits against the Ironhawks, with
Justin Amesquita and Vazquez with two hits apiece. Manhas, Vazquez and Tamez each hit doubles, with Manhas (3) and Amesquita (2) each batting in multipl runners.
April 6, 2024
Minnesota North College - Vermilion at Northland
Game 1
4
5
Line Score
| Final |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
R |
H |
E |
| Minnesota North College - Vermilion |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
9 |
2 |
| Northland |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
9 |
3 |
Box Score
BATTING
2B: DeSoto Hood , Will Thibodeau , Charlie Spahn
RBI: Chris Arambula , DeSoto Hood , Charlie Spahn , Franklin Wildes
FIELDING
E: Will Thibodeau (2)
BATTING
HR: Justin Amesquita
RBI: Connor Hoyt , Justin Amesquita (2) , Gamaliel Vasquez , Jonathan Perez
BASERUNNING
SB: Isaac Mata , Connor Hoyt
CS: Auden Venegas
FIELDING
E: Odhan Manhas (2) , Aidan Powell
| PITCHERS |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
HR |
| Marcus Haire |
6.2 |
9 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
| Totals |
6.2 |
9 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
PITCHING
Batters faced: Marcus Haire (32)
PITCHING
Batters faced: Dennis Ashley (23) , Aidan Powell (12)
HBP: Dennis Ashley (2) , Aidan Powell (2)
April 6, 2024
Minnesota North College - Vermilion at Northland
Game 2
1
8
Line Score
| Final |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
R |
H |
E |
| Minnesota North College - Vermilion |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
| Northland |
0 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
X |
8 |
8 |
0 |
Box Score
BATTING
RBI: Mason Kostka
GIDP: DeSoto Hood
FIELDING
E: Chase Snyder , Mason Kostka (3) , DeSoto Hood , Xavier Ibarra
DP: Chris Arambula
BATTING
RBI: Isaac Mata , Connor Hoyt (2) , Odhan Manhas (2) , Auden Venegas
Sac: Cooper Lawrence
GIDP: Odhan Manhas
BASERUNNING
SB: Isaac Mata , Connor Hoyt , Tyler Tamez
FIELDING
DP: Odhan Manhas
PITCHING
Batters faced: Jacob Mickelson (23) , Parker Coach (4) , Xavier Ibarra (5)
HBP: Jacob Mickelson
PITCHING
Batters faced: Connor Hoyt (28)
April 7, 2024
Northland at Minnesota North College - Vermilion
Game 1
6
0
Line Score
| Final |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
R |
H |
E |
| Northland |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
7 |
1 |
| Minnesota North College - Vermilion |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
Box Score
BATTING
RBI: Connor Hoyt , Odhan Manhas , Demetrius Oberg , Tyler Tamez
Sac: Auden Venegas , Demetrius Oberg
Sac Fly: Tyler Tamez
BASERUNNING
SB: Isaac Mata
FIELDING
E: Odhan Manhas
DP: Connor Hoyt
BATTING
Sac: Nick Berglund
FIELDING
E: Marcus Haire , Jake Palomo
PITCHING
Batters faced: Isaac Mata (25)
| PITCHERS |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
HR |
| Jake Palomo |
6.0 |
7 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| Jake Thome |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| Totals |
7.0 |
7 |
6 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
PITCHING
Batters faced: Jake Palomo (32) , Jake Thome (3)
HBP: Jake Palomo (3)
April 7, 2024
Northland at Minnesota North College - Vermilion
Game 2
13
9
Line Score
| Final |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
R |
H |
E |
| Northland |
0 |
0 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
13 |
11 |
3 |
| Minnesota North College - Vermilion |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
6 |
5 |
Box Score
BATTING
2B: Odhan Manhas , Gamaliel Vasquez , Tyler Tamez
RBI: Isaac Mata , Connor Hoyt , Odhan Manhas (3) , Justin Amesquita (2) , Jonathan Perez , Gamaliel Vasquez , Tyler Tamez
Sac: Auden Venegas
BASERUNNING
SB: Justin Amesquita
FIELDING
E: Jonathan Perez , Gamaliel Vasquez , Auden Venegas
BATTING
2B: Jake Casazza
RBI: Jake Casazza (2) , Nick Berglund , Chris Arambula , Mason Kostka , DeSoto Hood (2)
BASERUNNING
SB: Chris Arambula
FIELDING
E: Chris Arambula (2) , DeSoto Hood (2) , Landon Wilkins
PITCHING
Batters faced: Jonathan Perez (16) , Aidan Powell (3) , Justin Amesquita (13)
HBP: Jonathan Perez (3) , Justin Amesquita (14)
PITCHING
Batters faced: Landon Wilkins (28) , Jerron Turney (9) , Parker Coach (4)
HBP: Landon Wilkins (2)
Other Information
| Location: |
NCTC |
| Attendance: |
0 |
