Mankato, Minn. - The Polars baseball team faced off with Northwestern on Thursday afternoon in the first game of the UMAC postseason tournament and fell 8-7.
The Eagles pushed across two runs in the 2nd inning to take a early lead but Crown was able to take the lead back scoring 4 runs on two home runs from
Tyler Bloom and
Ashton Long and a 2 RBI double from
Kyler Thruston. Crown held the 4-2 lead and extended in the 3rd with a Long RBI single to push the Polars out in front 5-2.
Northwestern chipped away in the 5th and eventually took the lead back in the 7th after a three run inning. The game continued to go back and forth as Will Hellard scored on an RBI double from
Louis Garcia to tie the game at 6 apiece. The top of the 9th saw the Eagles regain the lead for the third time going ahead 8-6. Crown found a way to put the winning run on second and the tying run on third but could not complete the comeback late falling 8-7 in a dramatic game one of the tournament.
Kyler Thruston and
Julian Encinas both had 3 hits in the game. Long, Thruston, and Bloom each had two runs batted in.
Jacob Van Dam pitched 6 innings and allowed just 1 earned run in his no decision start.
Danny Gallardo and
Quentin Holmes closed the game on the mound.
Crown will now face elimination tomorrow as the Polars take on Minnesota Morris starting at 12pm as ISG Field in Mankato, Minnesota.
