Baseball Completes Four-Game Sweep of Northwestern

CRETE, Neb. – Doane baseball completed the doubleheader sweep of Northwestern (Iowa) with an 8-5 victory in game two on Saturday afternoon at Doane Ballfield Complex. The win also gave Doane a four-game sweep of the Red Raiders.

The Tigers (27-7, 13-3 GPAC) used a steady offensive attack and strong pitching performance from the start to build an early lead and hold off a late push from the Red Raiders.

Doane struck first in the second inning, plating two runs on an RBI double from Brayden Jones and an RBI single by Carter Roth to take a 2-0 lead. The Tigers continued to add on in the third when Johnny Vulcano drove in a run on a groundout, making it 3-0.

The offense kept rolling in the middle innings. Sam Kwapnioski launched a solo home run in the fourth to extend the lead to 4-0, and Jordan Bond followed with an RBI single in the fifth to push the advantage to 5-0.

Doane continued to apply pressure in the sixth and seventh innings. Roth delivered a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and the Tigers capitalized on a wild pitch and an RBI single from Grant Sommers in the seventh to build an 8-0 cushion.

On the mound, Nicolas Yard was dominant, tossing six shutout innings while allowing just four hits to improve to 7-0 on the season. Ethan Merk followed with a scoreless seventh inning to maintain the shutout.

Northwestern (20-14, 8-8 GPAC) broke through late, scoring two runs in the eighth and adding three more in the ninth to cut the deficit to 8-5. However, Carter Baete came on to record the final outs and secure the win for Doane as he picked up his first collegiate save.

The Tigers finished with 19 hits in the game, led by Jordan Bond's four-hit performance. Carter Roth and Grant Sommers each added three hits, while Kwapnioski contributed a home run and multiple extra-base hits in the win.

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