March 22, 2008

Box Score

TEMPE, Ariz. - There's no better way to break a losing streak than by defeating the top-ranked team in the nation, and that's exactly what the University of Northern Colorado baseball team did late Friday evening. The Bears beat previously unbeaten Arizona State in the Bob Schaefer Memorial Tournament, 6-3, to snap an 11-game losing streak. The Bears are now 6-14 on the season, while the Sun Devils are 19-1.

Three of Northern Colorado's six wins are now over ranked teams, as the Bears split a four-game series on opening weekend at Texas A&M.

Arizona State jumped out to the early lead in the contest, scoring two runs on two hits in the bottom half of the first inning. The Bears went down in order and made short work of the Sun Devils in the second inning, setting up a huge third inning.

Erik Hegstad started the inning with a double to left field and advanced to third on a ground out by T.J. Berge. Both seniors Adam Symons and Cory Morales were hit by pitches to load the bases when senior Andy Mees singled up the middle to score two runs. Junior Kevin Sandberg and senior Chad Murray both tallied singles, plating Mees and an Erik Whinery single scored Sandberg. With the four runs on four hits, the Bears took the 4-2 lead.

Arizona State scored one in the bottom of the fourth, but the Bears answered with one in the top of the fifth. Mees walked with one out, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Sandberg's double.

The Bears added an insurance run in the seventh inning. Morales singled and moved to second on a ground out by Mees. Sandberg again doubled, this time down the left field line to make the score 6-3.

ASU had the bases loaded in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, but Chris Peery was able to pitch out of the jam each of the first two stanzas and Dan Kazell did so in the ninth to preserve the win.

Chris Reap pitched another solid game for the Bears, throwing six innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking three and striking out a season-high seven. Peery pitched two innings giving up three hits, walking six and striking out two, while Kazell faced two batters, getting one to ground into a double play and striking out the other.

The Bears got two hits each from Morales and Sandberg, while Mees and Sandberg each had two RBI and Mees scored two runs. NC had six runs on nine hits while ASU had three runs on nine hits. Neither team committed an error.

Northern Colorado does not have long to celebrate its first victory over the top-ranked team in the nation since returning to Division I as they turn attention to fifth-ranked UC Irvine at noon on Saturday (Pacific) on day three of the tournament. They close out the tournament on Sunday against Florida International at noon on Sunday.