Baseball scores 30 in two games to win twinbill
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Game One Boxscore | Game Two Boxscore | NC Season Stats
GREELEY, Colo. – If you like offense, today was the day to be at Jackson Field as the two baseball teams combined for 74 hits in the two games. Northern Colorado won both against North Dakota, 11-9 and 19-18 to stretch the winning streak to 11 in Great West Conference play.
There's only one word to describe the day left-fielder Jarod Berggren had, ridiculous. The junior went 7-for-9 in the twin bill and all seven hits were for extra bases. He had three doubles, two triples and two home runs, as well as eight RBI for a slugging percentage of 2.222. His eight RBI give him 50 for the season
Juniors Casey Coy and Ben Packard also had phenomenal days at the plate, both going 6-for-9 with a double and triple each.
Senior T.J. Berge tallied four hits in the two games, bringing him just one shy of fourth on the career charts with 203 (204, John Ray, 2004-07). Two of those four hits were doubles, moving him into second all-time in Northern Colorado history with 48. He passes Chris Kirgan (1992-94), who had 47 and moves him within nine of the school record of 57 by Kevin Sandberg (2006-09).
"You can't expect games to be tight every outing," said Head Coach Iwasaki. "We knew we were going to have to grind this out and congratulations to the team and the way we got our bats going. All you have to do is outscore your opponent and a win is a win whether it's 1-0 or 19-18."
The whole team hit .542 over the doubleheader, with 45 total hits and 30 runs scored. The team had 12 doubles, six triples and four home runs to improve to 19-27 overall and 14-4 in Great West Conference action.
A pair of relief pitchers got the wins this afternoon as freshman Chris Hammer won game one to move to 3-4 on the year, while junior Cameron Tallman got his first decision in game two.
Northern Colorado concludes its 2011 home season on Sunday against North Dakota. First pitch is scheduled for noon and the seven seniors will be honored prior to first pitch.
Game One Recap
Junior Bret Fanning went 3-for-3 with three runs scored to lead the team, while Berggren was 3-for-4 with four RBI. Senior Marcus Valenzuela also went 3-for-4 with one RBI as all nine players in the batting order had at least one hit.
The Bears 11 runs were scored on 19 hits with one UND error, while North Dakota (6-27, 4-11 GWC) scored nine runs on 10 hits with one NC miscue.
North Dakota , like it did yesterday, scored one run in the top of the first inning. The Bears answered immediately as leadoff hitter Hilker hit the first homerun of his career, clearing the wall in left field. Fanning legged out a single back up the middle, stole second and scored on a single to right-center by Packard. Coy then laced a triple down the right field line and scored on a single to right by Jones.
The Sioux pulled within one, 4-3, with two runs in the second inning. They had a walk and two hits in the frame and scored their second run on a balk. Fanning tripled down the left field line and scored on a double to left center by Berggren for the Bears run in the second and a 5-3 lead.
In the fourth inning, North Dakota took its first lead of the series, scoring three runs on three hits with two hit batters. Hammer took over the duties on the hill for the Bears, getting the final two outs via strike out and pop out.
Fanning, in an extremely close play at first, beat out the throw from the short stop for his third hit of the afternoon and stole second on the next pitch. Berge grounded out, but advanced Fanning to third and Berggren hit a line shot down the left field line for his second double of the afternoon to tie the score at 6-6. A double to right center by Packard gave the lead back to the Bears and North Dakota went to the bullpen. Jones and Valenzuela both singled back up the middle for an 8-6 NC lead.
Hilker started the fifth inning with a single just out of the reach of the short stop. Fanning sacrificed him to second and he moved to third on a double to right-center by Berge. Berggren followed with a triple to the deepest part of the park for the team's third triple of the game, Coy was hit by a pitch and Berggren scored on a wild pitch for the 11-6 lead.
North Dakota's Andy Sadler was hit by a pitch for the third time, this one extremely scary as it hit his upper shoulder, near his head. David Dafforn came in to run for him. An error by the Bears and a triple by Jake Magner, along with a sacrifice fly gave UND three runs and Steinmetz came into throw with the score 11-9. He allowed a hit but got the final out to preserve a two-run lead for the Bears.
Neither team scored in their final at bat for the 11-9 tally.
Game Two Recap
Berggren missed only the single in hitting for the cycle as he has a double, triple and two home runs for his four hits. He also scored four times and had four RBI. Packard and Coy also each had four hits, while Jones tied for game-high honors with four RBI.
The Bears struck first, scoring two in the bottom of the first. Hilker doubled down the left field line, Fanning reached on catcher's interference for the second time on the day and Berge doubled to left center. Packard singled to left field to score Berge but was thrown out trying to stretch the hit to a double for the 2-0 lead.
North Dakota scored five runs on five hits in the top of the second and added to the lead with four more in the third for a 9-2 lead.
Berggren got one run back for the Bears with one swing of the bat, clearing the fence in right center in the third. Packard walked and moved to third on a single back up the middle from Coy. Packard scored on a sacrifice fly to center from Jones for two runs and a 9-4 score.
The Fighting Sioux tacked on one more run in the fourth for a 10-4 advantage.
In the bottom of the fifth, Berggren doubled down the right field line, Packard singled to left and Coy doubled to left center for two runs. Jones singled and Valenzuela doubled over the right fielder's head for the seventh run of the day and UND went to the pen. Crudo singled to left and Hilker singled up the middle, Berge reached on an error to load the bases and Berggren drew a walk to tie the score at 10-10.
The Bears defense retired the side in order in the sixth and Jones hit the first home run of his career to take the lead back, 11-10. Valenzuela smashed his second straight double to end another pitcher's night as UND again went to the bullpen. Crudo tripled to straight-away center to give the team a 12-10 lead.
North Dakota regained the lead in the top of the seventh with six runs as they batted around. Five hits and a pair of walks gave UND a 16-12 lead.
Berge singled to center to lead off in the seventh and Berggren crushed his second home run of the game to cut the lead in half. Packard then hit another triple to right center and UND made a pitching change. Jones doubled to left center with one out and Valenzuela singled back up the middle to tie the score at 16-16.
The Fighting Sioux scored one run in the top of the eighth for a 17-16 advantage. Berggren continued the hitting with a triple to right and scored when Packard singled back up the middle. Coy followed with a single to right and the Bears took the lead when Jones singled through the right side to plate Packard. Valenzuela hit into a fielder's choice to score Coy for the 19-17 lead.
North Dakota scored one in the top of the ninth after the first two hitters singled, but after a sacrifice bunt, Tallman buckled down to get two groundouts for his first win of the year.
