The University of Minnesota Duluth had its nine-game winning streak come to halt at the hands of Northern State this afternoon as the Bulldogs and Wolves split a pair of 5-4 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference decisions at the Presentation Dome in Aberdeen, S.D. UMD took the first game squashing a Northern State seventh-inning rally and the Wolves returned the favor as the Bulldogs nearly came back after trailing by four runs in game two.
UMD and Northern State were fairly even offensively as the Bulldogs complied 15 hits while the Wolves accounted for 14. Six Bulldogs racked up multiple hits in the afternoon series. Junior shortstop
Lauren Oberle and senior outfielder
Sammi Sadler uncorked three hits a piece to lead the maroon-and-gold. Oberle blasted her sixth home run of the season in the second game. The Eden Prairie, Minn., native joined sophomore
Jordyn Thomas and freshman
Emma Frost for the team-lead in homers.
Sophomore catcher
Jessica Bren entered in on the home run club. She smacked her second round-tripper of the year as she gave UMD life in its comeback effort that fell short. Junior catcher
Hannah Bloch was the lone Bulldog to reach base in every plate appearance. Bloch caught the first game and went 2-for-2 and drew a walk.
Bloch drove in three of the five runs in the opener for UMD. The Bulldogs threatened in the second, loading the bases for Bloch. The native of Ames, Iowa, connected on a 1-1 pitch and sent it into the outfield scoring freshman outfielder
Erin Thompson and senior
Kalynn Tilton. The Wolves cut the lead in half until UMD added three more in the fifth. Thompson started the two-out rally with a walk and scored on a RBI single by Sadler. Bloch singled again to score Tilton, who also walked, and Sadler capitalized on a Northern State error and scored from second.
Freshman
Sam Pederson earned her 11th victory as she went 6.1 innings for her fourth straight win. Pederson spread out seven hits and a pair of walks while fanning three batters. The Wolves cut into the Bulldog lead in the bottom of seventh with a infield error but junior pitcher
Breanna Swint slammed the door shut. Swint needed three pitches for the final two outs to earn her second save of the season and secure the Bulldog win.
Northern State used the long ball in the nightcap to salvage the split. Madison Rutter launched a solo homer in the second and Kaitlyn King's three-run homer in a four-run third inning was enough to scramble UMD's winning streak. The Bulldogs trailed 5-1 heading to fifth with Oberle's homer the only scoring for UMD thus far. Sophomore second baseman
Taylor Koehnen singled and scored to lead off the inning. Bren's homer came later in the inning as she tattooed her ball over the left-center fence.
Momentum swung towards UMD but it never scored that elusive game-tying run. UMD nearly took the lead the following frame as Sadler doubled and Oberle was robbed of a home run in dead center. The Wolves also gave the Bulldogs runners on first and second in the seventh before thwarting UMD's final chance.
The Bulldogs trek back to Duluth to a four-game homestand this weekend with series against Minnesota State University Mankato and Concordia University, St. Paul at James S. Malosky Stadium. Saturday's opening pitch with the Mavericks is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.
