@NCBearsBaseball Earns Series Win With 9-5 Game Over Sacramento State

Saturday, March 25

Greeley, Colo.

12 pm

University of Northern Colorado

10-12, 2-0

Sacramento State

11-10, 0-2

Sacramento State

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Rob Trubia

3/25/2017 4:18:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Northern Colorado used a six run fifth to earn a 9-5 win over Sac St and secure the series win

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY – Northern Colorado baseball earned a comeback win on Saturday afternoon to defeat Sacramento State 9-5, and secure the WAC opening series win. UNC used a six-run fifth on the way to the win.

How It Happened
Sacramento State jumped out to the early lead with some two-out hitting in the top of the first. Kody Reynolds and Vinny Esposito each had two-out RBI hits to have the Hornets up 2-0 through one. They extended their lead to 3-0 going to the bottom half of the fourth.

Cole Maltese put the Bears on the board in the bottom on the fourth with a solo home run to left field, his sixth long ball of the season.

After Maltese got the scoring going for UNC in the fourth, the team's offense broke the game open in the fifth. Alex Kiel singled to begin the inning, and Matt Burkart walked to put pressure on Sac State. Tyler Yamaguchi put down a very well placed safety squeeze that scored Kiel and advanced Burkart to second.

Dean Lawson then stepped up to the plate looking for his first hit of the day and he delivered in a big way with the team's second home run over the left center wall, giving UNC a 4-3 lead. Following the home run, Sacramento State's defense started to have issues fielding, allowing Northern Colorado to continue its inning and put up a crooked number. The Bears scored three more runs on two hits, an error and wild pitch as they batted around and led 7-3.

Sacramento State would not go away easily though, loading the bases in the seventh before Connor Leedholm came in and got the huge strike out to leave them that way with no damage. They then added on two runs in the eighth to get within three of UNC.

Northern Colorado tacked on another run in the seventh when Jack Pauley doubled to left center and then Brett Minnick reached on a fielding error by the Hornets. Kiel delivered his third hit of the game with a single to left field bringing home Pauley. They scored another in the bottom of the eighth as Dean Lawson doubled and came around to score on a Pauley single to right.

Game Changer
The first four at bats were huge for Northern Colorado in the fifth inning. Alex Kiel started it with a single to left and moved over to third on a stolen base and wild pitch while Matt Burkart was at the plate. The freshman third baseman earned himself a walk to put runners on the corners. That's when Tyler Yamaguchi put down a very well executed squeeze allowing Kiel to score and Burkart to move into scoring position with the top of UNC's order coming up. Dean Lawson used just one swing of the bat to put the Bears ahead with a long fly to left center for a two-run home run.

Notable
- After Sacramento State starter Parker Brahms went through the Bears lineup with easy the first time through, UNC's bats came alive for the rest of the day recording 13 hits against six different pitchers.
- Four different Northern Colorado players recorded multi-hit games. Jack Pauley and Alex Kiel had three hits each. Pauley finished a home run shy of the cycle driving in a pair of runs and scoring twice. Kiel used all parts of the outfield for his three hits all being singles.
- UNC received its second straight quality start, today from freshman Troy Watson. Watson struggled early on, but settled in for a six innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He struck out a pair while walking three.
- Veterans Connor Leedholm and Dylan Shiraki came in from the pen at key moments and got the big out for the Bears on Saturday. Leedholm stepped into a bases loaded jam in the seventh with two outs getting a strike out swinging to end the threat. Shiraki came in during the eighth with a pair on for Sacramento State and two outs with the HorHe was able to get James Outman to ground to second to stop the Sac St rally.

Quotable
Head Coach Carl Iwasaki
Thoughts on the game
"There was multiple guys in this game that made impacts for us. Our seven, eight, nine guys are the center of the order for us right now. Alex Kiel was the spark plug for us today in my opinion. For him to get on and get things going in the fifth was big. Matt Burkhart had great at-bats for us and Tyler Yamaguchi did what we expect from him, including executing for us in that scoring opportunity. Hitting is contagious and can come and go, but pitching and defense will never slump. We are pitching well and playing good defense to back it up. Troy Watson was a little shaky in the first inning, but shut it down in that inning and beyond as our offense started getting back into the game. We are not done yet though, our task is to finish the series strong tomorrow. I tell the guys all the time our weekend of work is not over until around 4:00 pm on Sunday when all the games are over, so we need to come back tomorrow and continue to battle against a good Sacramento State team."

Junior Second Baseman Dean Lawson
About his home run
"When I hit it I knew I hit it well and it had the right trajectory. I wasn't positive, but once I saw it go over I knew that was a big hit for us."

Team approach second time through the lineup
"We started being a little more aggressive against him (Brahms) after the first time through since he was spotting up well and we had to start swinging at those pitches."

What the series win means
"It's awesome, we have a lot of confidence going into tomorrow with nothing to lose. We had a lot of confidence after beating their guy Justin Dillion and know this is a good and competitive team we are playing, so to get the first two was big."

What's Next?
Northern Colorado will look to complete the weekend sweep of Sacramento State tomorrow at noon at Jackson Field. The Bears will send Isaac Bracken to the mound to face Max Karnos of Sac St.