Wildcats continue hot streak at home

Wayne State sweeps Northern State in four games at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex

  • Joey Lenihan fires a pitch toward home in last Saturday’s doubleheader sweep over Northern State.

    Tess Riecke
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  • Albert Johnson comes sliding into second base as Northern’s second baseman applies a tag.

    Richard Rhoden
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Robbie Androyna, Staff Writer
April 1, 2015

Wayne State broke out the brooms this past weekend, sweeping Northern State at the Pete Chapman Baseball Complex here in Wayne.

The Wildcats opened the weekend, crushing the ball with a team total of 15 hits, including six players having multiple hits in the 10-2 Wildcat win.

Starting pitcher Eric Browning got his first win of the season, striking out seven batters while pitching six innings.

“We are starting to do the small things right. Pitchers are throwing strikes, but we have a great defense playing behind us, as well,” Browning said.

Ackerman led the Wildcats offensively, going 3-4, scoring two runs and also blasting a solo home run. Third baseman Michael Herman went 2-4, doubling twice while scoring two runs and also batting in two runs.

Wildcats Kevin Andersen, Curtis Bussard, Albert Johnson and Zak Leighton all had two hits in the Wayne state victory.

“We’ve worked extremely hard for this and we hope to keep having success,” Ackerman said.

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Northern State out-hit Wayne State, but the Wildcats took advantage of six errors and five walks by the Wolves to get the 10-7 win.

Ackerman once again went yard for the Wildcats, hitting a three-run homer in the sixth inning. He finished the game going 2-5 with three RBI’S and scoring two runs.

Johnson also had a big game, going 3-5 while batting in two runs. Senior left-handed pitcher Matt Schulz improved to 2-0 this season while pitching 5 innings, allowing 3 runs, and striking out 2.

The Wildcats also won both games in Sunday’s doubleheader, with scores of 5-2 and 12-7 over the Wolves.

Wayne State is riding a six-game winning streak, improving to 12-8 on the year and a very impressive 7-1 in NSIC play. Both starting pitchers for Wayne State on Sunday stayed perfect on the year, while Mike Frericks improved to 3-0 on the season. Frericks was charged with two unearned runs, pitching over six innings with four strikeouts. Senior starting pitcher Dylan McGill improved to 4-0, pitching five innings, giving up five runs, and recording seven strikeouts.

The Wildcats really had the bats going in the second game of the doubleheader with a season high of 18 hits. It was the fifth straight game for Wayne State with 10 hits, all five games resulting in a win for the Wildcats. WSC will head up to Minnesota this weekend to face St. Cloud State in back-to-back doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday.