MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran baseball team hosted Northwestern for a pair of UMAC baseball contests on Saturday afternoon fell by scores of 8-2 and 15-5. With the results the Vikings fall to 15-11 overall and 12-3 in the UMAC while the Eagles move to 15-16 overall and 12-3 in conference play. 

Northwestern 8 - 2 Bethany

Bethany starting pitcher Trent Ash ran into some trouble early as he would allow a double and a single in the second inning, but a great throw in right field from Josh Robb would cut down the run at the plate and help him work out of the early jam. Ash would then allow two more hits in the third inning, with a walk sandwiched in between helping the Eagles plate the first run of the game to make it 1-0. 

The Viking bats were cold through the first four innings of this one as an Aidan Russell single in the bottom of the second accounted for the only Bethany hit in the early stages of the game.

UNW would add two more runs in the fifth inning before tacking on four more in the eighth to hold a 7-0 lead with Bethany down to their final six outs. 

A Will Carlson single followed by a Josh Robb double to begin the eighth gave the Vikings a run and some life, but the Eagles would work out of the jam and limit the damage to just a single run. 

They would then answer that run with one of their own in the top of the ninth, as they used a pair of hits to plate their eighth tally of the game.

Liam Peterson would open the ninth with a base hit, eventually coming around to score during a Carlson at-bat, but that was all Bethany could muster as they fell 8-2. 

Ash took the loss on the mound, allowing three runs in five innings of work while striking out six. 

Carlson was the lone Viking with two hits in the contest, as he led the 8-hit effort for Bethany. '

Northwestern 15 - 5 Bethany

After a quick first two innings to game two, the top of the third inning proved to be the Vikings demise. Northwestern would tally just two hits in the inning, but seven free passes to go along with two Viking errors helped them plate eight runs to gain the early cushion. 

They would tack on two more in the top of the fourth inning before the Vikings would finally respond in the bottom half.

With the bases loaded, Connor Jones would double to plate two runs and trim the deficit to 10-2. Two batters later, Robb would step up with two on and two out and launch an opposite field home run to left center to cut the deficit in half and make the score 10-5 after four innings. 

As was a theme in this series, the Eagles once again had the answer though as they plated a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to make the score 12-5.

From that point forward the Vikings just couldn't get it going with their bats, as they would tally just two hits the remainder of the game and the Eagles would add three more runs in the ninth to claim the 15-5 win. 

Malachi Santiago led the Vikings with three hits in this one, while Robb added two. 

Bethany will be back in action next Friday when they host Minnesota Morris at 3 p.m.