ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran baseball team Friday night had a monster offensive effort as they claimed a 16-6 win over Northwestern. With the win, the Vikings improve to 19-11 overall and 12-1 in the UMAC while the Eagles fall to 13-14 overall and 11-2 in conference play. 

Hear from the Vikings
Here's what head coach Ryan Kragh and senior outfielder Eli Fest had to say about the game.

Kragh
"I thought it was one of the better offensive performances in a long time today, and Ash and Vollmar gave us a chance. We just need to shore up taking care of the baseball."

Fest
"Really big win today and we did a really good job of dealing with adversity and battling all nine innings. Excited for the opportunity to compete again tomorrow."

Inside the Box Score
Fest picked up the first of his five hits in the contest in the top of the first and scored the game's first run as a two out single from Nolan Spence put Bethany on the board. The Eagles answered right back in the bottom half though, as a walk followed by a two-out home run gave UNW a 2-1 lead after one."

A Northwestern error and a Seth Jones double quickly tied the game. just two batters into the second, with a Fest single a few hitters later putting the Vikings back in front. Jones then added two more RBI in the third with a single to push Bethany's advantage to 5-2. 

Northwestern responded with a pair of runs in the third with the second being unearned before both teams went quiet for a few innings. After a rough first few innings, Trent Ash would lock down the Eagles in the fourth, fifth, and sixth by allowing no baserunners before he got an extra insurance run in the seventh from the Bethany offense thanks to a UNW passed ball. 

The Eagles would use an error, a walk, and a single to open the seventh with Ash allowing one run before recording just one out to make it 6-5 before Ty Vollmar came on in relief. The senior hurler would get a lineout and strikeout to to escape the jam with two on and preserve Bethany's lead before the offense piled on the runs in the top of the eighth. 

In the eighth, Will Carlson would jumpstart the offense with a double to left center which sparked an eight-hit inning for the Vikings. Northwestern also added two errors and saw their pitchers balk twice in the inning that saw eight Bethany runners come around to score. 

Northwestern added a run in the bottom half of the inning before the Vikings would add two more in the top of the ninth thanks to RBI at-bats from Cael Willaert and Josh Robb to bring the final score to 16-6. 

Fest's massive 5-hit day was supplemented by three RBI and two runs scored, while Xander Meissner, Malachi Santiago, and Jones also added three hits with Jones driving in five runs to lead the team

Ash went 6.1 innings in the win allowing three earned runs and striking out 11, while Vollmar struck out four in 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. 

The two teams will match up again tomorrow in St. Paul for a doubleheader, with first pitch of game one scheduled for 1 p.m.