After a 1,814-day absence, the University of Minnesota Duluth returned to the Junction Avenue Field diamond Saturday afternoon and was greeted with blue skies, a slight breeze and unseasonably warm temperatures. The Bulldogs indeed could not have asked for a better day weather-wise in their first appearance in nearly five years at the 30-year old on-campus facility and although the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader with Wayne State College did not start out the way UMD would have liked (a 6-2 loss), the home club rebounded by besting the Wildcats 8-1 in the rematch.
The Bulldogs, who last played at Junction Avenue on April 29, 2011 (two years before any current member of the team had joined the program), trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning in the opener before stringing together four straight singles to go up 2-1. Wayne State scored three times in fifth and added two more runs in sixth to seal the victory. Six different Bulldogs had one hiteach, including sophomore second baseman
Natalie Wright and rookie left fielder
Sammi Sadler, who both had an RBI single. Senior pitcher
Cayli Sadler (11-7) allowed eight hits and six runs before giving way to freshman pitcher
Valerie Hohol with two outs in the top of the sixth.
Junior lefthander pitcher
Sam Hartmann (12-5) posted her sixth consecutive win in the rematch, tossing a six-hit, seven-strikeout complete game. Sophomore center fielder and leadoff hitter
Hannah Schmoll went 3-for-4 while Wright was 2-for-3 and belted her third homer of the spring -- a solo shot in the sixth inning. UMD (25-12 overall; 14-6 NSIC), which broke a 1-1 deadlock with a four-run second inning, also got a pair of RBI from senior first baseman
Ashley Lewis and rookie catcher
Hannah Bloch. Wayne State (23-20 overall, 17-5 NSIC) failed to generate an extra base hit in the setback and was held to just three singles after the first inning.
UMD will host NSIC-leading Augustana University (31-12 overall; 18-3 NSIC) tomorrow on Senior Day/Kid's Day at Junction Avenue Field. The twinbill is scheduled for a 12 p.m. start.
