Offense Galore As @NCBearsbaseball Drops Series Opener

Friday, April 7

Greeley, Colo.

2:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

11-16, 3-4

Seattle

10-18-1, 2-5

Seattle

Northern Colorado

4/7/2017 7:41:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

UNC fell 14-12 in the series opener to Seattle Friday afternoon

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – Offense was a plenty on Friday afternoon as Northern Colorado (11-16, 3-4 WAC) and Seattle (10-18-1, 2-5 WAC) combined for 26 runs and 35 hits in the series opener between the two teams. The Redhawks came out on top, with a 14-12 win over the Bears.

How It Happened
Seattle struck first in the game scoring a run in the second inning. Chase Wells hit a triple off the right field wall, and came home on Griffin Andreychuck's single up the middle to make it a 1-0 lead. The Redhawks extended their lead to 4-0 before Northern Colorado scored its first run in the bottom of the fifth.

Following a two-run top of the fifth, Northern Colorado worked itself back into the game with three-run rally. Freshman Matt Burckart started the rally with a leadoff single through the right side. It was followed up by a Payton Tapia single and an Alex Kiel sacrifice bunt. Shortstop Tyler Yamaguchi put UNC on the board with a sacrifice fly to left field. Nick Tanner doubled down the left field line to extend the inning and score Tapia, and then scored himself on an Evan Johnson single as the team trailed 4-3 through five.

Including the fifth inning, UNC and Seattle combined for 24 runs over the fifth through eighth innings. Five of those 24 came in the top of the sixth as Seattle extended its lead to 9-3. Along with the trend of runs being scored during this time, it was also a trend of SU extending its lead at the top of the inning, while UNC chipped its way back into the game at the bottom of it.

Northern Colorado got two of the five Redhawks runs back in the bottom of the sixth on a Tapia two-run home run to left field. Seattle added back onto its lead with four more runs in the seventh on five hits. UNC scored four runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning.

Yamaguchi began the big inning for the Bears with a single to center field, while the next two Bears reached, including an RBI single by Evan Johnson. Another run scored on a sacrifice fly to put Northern Colorado within six, 13-7. Jack Pauley recorded the final hit of the inning for UNC, driving home Johnson as the game entered the eighth with a score of 14-8.

Jack Reisinger hit a solo home run to begin the eighth, scoring the would-be final run of the game for Seattle. The bottom part of the frame was big for UNC as they pulled within a pair of runs on a four-run rally. The first three batters for Northern Colorado reached safely, scoring one run, before Johnson used a sacrifice fly to make it a 14-10 game. Pauley and Brett Minnick ended up scoring another two runs for the Bears with a fly out to left and a double down the line in left, respectively.

UNC had one last chance to tie the game up in the bottom of the ninth when Alex Kiel doubled to left center with one out. Andreychuck, the Seattle shortstop, made a spectacular diving catch to record the second out of the inning to turn the tide in favor of SU as the closed out the 14-12 win.

Game Changer
With all of the runs scored in the game, it was a defensive play that felt it changed the tide of the game. Northern Colorado had stormed back into the game scoring seven runs combined in the seventh and eighth inning, and looked to have momentum continuing in the ninth after Alex Kiel hit a double to left center. Tyler Yamguchi roped a ball to the hole between third baseman and shortstop, but it was just in the reach of a diving Griffin Andreychuck who recorded the second out.

Notable
- All nine batters for Northern Colorado recorded at least one hit in the game, five had multi-hit games. Of the five with multi-hit games, Nick Tanner and Tyler Yamaguchi each had three hits to lead the team.
- While the offenses had big games, it was not a good day to be a pitcher as 12 arms were used between the two teams. Half of them pitched less than an inning during the contest.
- There were six home runs hit in the game, five by Seattle. The Redhawks Curtis Perrin had two of those long balls, finishing the game 3-for-3 with four runs scored and RBI and a walk.
- Sacrifice flies were a big part of the Bears offense as they recorded four in the game.

What's Next?
Northern Colorado will look to get back into the win column tomorrow in game two of the series. The Bears will send Troy Watson to the mound, while Janson Junk will oppose him at 2 pm.