MANKATO, Minn.—The Bethany Lutheran baseball team (11-12 overall, 7-5 UMAC) won the first game of the weekend series against Northland (2-14, 2-6) 10-5 Friday evening.
 
The LumberJacks took the 1-0 lead in their first, but the Vikings answered with two in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single from freshman Aidan Russel (Gilbert, Ariz.) and a sac fly from junior Matt Verdugo (Arvada, Colo.).
 
Northland added two in the fourth before BLC plated four in the bottom of the stanza, which included a two-run single from senior Hunter Pearce (Berthoud, Colo.). The Jacks added one in the fifth and sixth to make it 8-5.
 
Bethany used four hits to score two runs in the sixth for the final tallies of the day.
 
Senior Brody Curtiss (Belle Plaine, Minn.) pitched six complete innings for the win and classmate Nick Shubert (Mapleton, Minn.) earned the save and added a career-high six strikeouts.
 
Verdugo went 3-4 with three RBIs, Pearce was 2-4 with three RBIs and Russell was 2-5.
 
These two teams return to the field for the doubleheader tomorrow at 10 a.m. This will conclude a seven-game homestand for BLC.