It waited until the final weekend of the regular season, but the University of Minnesota Duluth finally got a chance to play some baseball on campus this spring. UMD's 2018 Bulldog Park debut, however, was not a successful one as the Bulldogs fell twice to the University of Minnesota Crookston (8-6 in eight innings and 6-3) Friday in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader.
The banged-up Bulldogs (16-27 overall and 12-19 in the NSIC), who have now lost 13 of their last 14 outings, saw their hopes to land a berth in next week's NSIC Tournament squashed with the twin setbacks.
In the opener, UMD trailed the Golden Eagles (22-27; 8-22 NSIC) 6-5 going into the bottom of the seventh before senior right fielder
Brett Milazzo led off with a homer -- his first of the year -- to force extra innings. Minnesota Crookston answered in the eighth with a pair of runs on two hits while taking advantage of a UMD error. Milazzo fell just short of hitting for a cycle, complementing his home run with a single and a triple to go 3-for-3. Rookie left fielder Henry Goerge, senior catcher
Tyler Midas and sophomore shortstop
Chase Thomas each had two hits. UMD used three pitchers -- starting senior
Jalen Busker (five hits and four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, sophomore
Evan Vick (four hits and two earned runs in 3 innings) and freshman
Thomas Bruchu, who took the loss after giving up two runs (one of which was earned) in the eighth inning.
Minnesota Crookston jumped out to 3-0 lead in their first at bat and never looked back in the rematch. The Bulldogs managed just three hits, including two by
Drew Stewart. The sophomore centerfielder homered for the second time in as many games (and for the second time this spring), added a double and walked in his other trip to the plate. Senior
Colin Baumgard suffered just his second loss in six decisions this season after allowing eight hits and five earned runs in the opening 2 1/3 innings of play. He was relieved by sophomore righthander
Kole Zuidmulder, who pitchd 2 1/3 innings of one-hit ball to go with four strikeouts.
The two clubs will play another twinbill on Saturday beginning at 12 noon at Bulldog Park.
