Tuesday Twice As Nice For @NCBearsBaseball

Sunday, February 19

San Francisco, Calif.

3:30 pm

University of Northern Colorado

1-3

San Francisco

3-1

Northern Colorado

San Francisco

2/21/2017 8:21:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Northern Colorado baseball picked up its first two wins of the season Tuesday

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

SAN FRANCISCO – Tuesday was twice as nice for Northern Colorado baseball as they picked up their first two wins of the year. The first came as the team completed its suspended game from Sunday against San Francisco, and was followed up with a strong team effort against San Francisco State.

How It Happened
The Bears and Dons finally finished their opening series Tuesday afternoon as they entered extra innings tied at two. Northern Colorado quickly earned the lead in the top half of the 10th. Dan Reese led off the inning beating out a throw from the catcher on a strike three wild pitch, which proved to be critical. Reese made his way to third after Alex Kiel grounded out to the pitcher and then took advantage of another wild pitch. Dean Lawson drove him home with a single to center.

Brett Minnick took over on the mound for the bottom half of the inning, allowing a leadoff single that was cut down on a fielder's choice. The Dons were aggressive on the basepaths during the inning as their final two outs of the game were getting caught trying to steal second, as UNC went on to secure the 3-2 win.

After earning its first win of the season and concluding the series against San Francisco, Northern Colorado competed in its regularly scheduled game against San Francisco State.

The Bears wasted no time getting on the board as Lawson drew a walk to start the game, and came home in the next at-bat when Nick Tanner doubled down the left field line. UNC proceeded to then load the bases. Evan Johnson stepped into the batter's box with the bases full and two outs, when he broke the game open, rocking a ball to center field for the grand slam, putting the Bears up 6-0 after one.

With six runs on the board before making his first career start, Troy Watson came out and pitched with confidence for UNC. The freshman righty sat down 11 of the first 12 Gators he faced. The only SFSU batter to reach during that stretch came on a walk, and Watson held them hitless through five and a third innings.

While Watson was dealing for the Bears, UNC's offense continued to add to its lead adding three in the fourth and two more in the sixth to go up 11-0.
San Francisco State put a pair of runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth to make it 11-2, but UNC put the lead back to double figures with another run in the top of the seventh.

Before darkness fell on Bennedeti Diamond to end the game after eight innings, SFSU added two more runs as UNC earned the 12-4 win.

Game Changer
Freshman, Troy Watson looked right at home in his first career start, shutting down the San Francisco State offense. He went six innings strong allowing just two hits and two runs on the way to his first career win.

Notable
- It had been awhile since UNC had a grand slam before today. Evan Johnson hit the first grand slam for the Bears since May 17, 2013 when Nick Miller hit one at New York Institute of Technology.
- A pair of Bears scored their first career runs in Billy Moreland and Matt Burkart. Moreland also had his first career RBI when he drove in Burkart.
- Eight different UNC hitters drove in a run against San Francisco, only Evan Johnson who hit the grand slam drove in more than one run.

Quotable
Head Coach Carl Iwasaki
"The team responded well after this weekend, finishing the series against San Francisco on a high note and continuing that against San Francisco State. They did a good job of taking it one game at a time and capitalized in key situations. Troy (Watson) came out today and worked quickly, pounding the zone leading to his success. Evan Johnson also gave him a cushion to work with hitting the grand slam. We are looking to take keep that momentum we gained today into the weekend with us against tough teams in BYU and San Jose State."

What's Ahead?
Northern Colorado is scheduled to play BYU on Thursday at 3 pm to start its weekend with a pair of games against both the Cougars and San Jose State. The schedule may change due to issues at San Jose States stadium. Stay tuned to UNCBears.com for updates.