The University of Minnesota Duluth and the University of Mary battled the rain and the cold on a damp afternoon at James S. Malosky Stadium. The Bulldogs weathered the conditions and the Marauders for a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference sweep to end the homestand.
UMD (19-12; 10-2 NSIC) settled the series with a walk-off – literally – in the seventh inning over Mary (13-19; 4-8 NSIC) on
Hannah Bloch's bases-loaded walk. The Bulldogs overcame a 5-3 deficit to secure their fifth straight series sweep of the Marauders.
The junior catcher also kept UMD's eight-game winning streak intact as she watched the 3-2 two-out pitch come in low to score the final run with no where to put Bloch.
The Bulldogs got to business right away in both games as they scratched across seven of their 15 runs in the first innings. UMD had scored just 24 runs in its first 29 games of opening frames this season coming into the double header.
The Bulldogs needed to get out to a fast start and they did just that scoring four times – all with two outs -- in the bottom of the first inning in the opener. UMD gave starting pitcher
Sam Pederson that 4-0 cushion and the freshman did the rest for her 10
th win. Pederson became the sixth pitcher and the first freshman in the NSIC to reach the double-digit win mark this season as she tossed a career-high eight strikeouts despite hurling a slippery ball.
In that four-run first-inning, sophomore infielder
Jordyn Thomas blasted her team-lead share sixth home run, a solo shot. Freshman infielder and senior
Kalynn Tilton received a pair of free passes to put runners on first and second. Freshman outfielder
Erin Thompson and sophomore infielder
Taylor Koehnen ripped RBI singles.
Mary cut UMD's lead in half by the fifth inning but the Bulldogs pushed it back to a four-run advantage in the bottom of the frame. Thomas smoked a RBI double to right and freshman infielder
Emma Frost lined a RBI single to center. Leading 6-3, sophomore catcher
Jessica Bren added a sacrifice fly in the sixth for her 11
th RBI of the year.
The Marauders pieced together most of their offensive production with five runs in the third inning of game two. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a pair of homers from junior infielder
Lauren Oberle and Frost but it lead evaporated when Mary collected four two-out hits including a two-run homer off starter
Breanna Swint.
UMD didn't trail for long as it evened things in the bottom of the inning with two runs and later regained the lead on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by junior outfielder
Jayme Langbehn. Senior outfielder
Sammi Sadler, who had a sac fly in the third, banged a RBI double off the wall in center to expand the Bulldog lead to 7-5.
The Marauders answered in the seventh with two of their own with a pair of RBI hits. Swint limited the damage afterwards leaving UMD with a walk-off scenario.Thomas started the seventh with a five-pitch walk and Frost looped a double down the line leaving the Bulldogs with runners at second and third. UMD had a pair of runners gunned down on the base paths trying to seal the victory.
Bloch and her patience with two outs and a full count paid off as she walked with the bases loaded to claim the first Bulldog walk off since 2017. Bloch's game-clinching walk was one of 12 walks the Marauders issued to UMD, the most since Finlandia offered 16 free passes back on March 4, 2004.
The Bulldogs head out for a midweek road NSIC double header against Northern State University before returning home. Wednesday's series against the Wolves starts at 12:00 p.m. at the PC Dome on the campus of Presentation College in Aberdeen, S.D.
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