Northeastern Baseball Has Tough Go in Arizona

Mar. 18, 2019, Sterling, Colo. — The Plainsmen baseball team traveled to Arizona to play in their annual spring trip. With weather being less than ideal in the northeast Colorado region, the men were looking forward to green grass and sunshine. 

The first series was against Central Arizona, who the Plainsmen struggled against by only scoring one run each game. The first game, Central took the 3-0 lead before Northeastern scored one in the top of the fourth when Jaxon Rosencranz singled to score Ben Newton. In the fifth however, Central scored three more to get the 6-1 win over the Plainsmen. 

In the second game against Central, Northeastern could not get their bats going, which led to their loss. The Plainsmen only mustered up one run in the second when Rosencranz hit a solo home run. From there, Central rallied and put up runs. Northeastern eventually fell to their opponents 11-1. 

A new day meant a new team to play. The Plainsmen battled against South Mountain Community College for their second series of the trip. Both teams had strong pitching with Cameron Spaeth on the mound for Northeastern. The only run in the game came when South Mountain hit a single to score a runner from second. Despite the 1-0 loss, Spaeth pitched six innings and only allowed three hits. 

Their second game against South Mountain had more action offensively between the teams. The Plainsmen out-hit their opponents 11-10, but still fell 9-4. South Mountain jumped out to an early 6-0 lead. Northeastern were able to get men on, but could never get them across home. It wasn't until the last two innings when the Plainsmen could get on the scoreboard. It was too little too late when Northeastern scored their four runs as the deed was already done. The Plainsmen went on to fall against South Mountain in game two 9-4. 

The final game of their trip was against Paradise Valley. The Plainsmen knew if they could get men on, they could win this game. The Plainsmen scored on a double by Newton in the first inning, a fielder's choice by Dylan Norsen in the second inning, and a single by Davyn Adamscheck in the second inning. Paradise Valley tied things up at one in the bottom of the first on a single. Northeastern pulled away for good with three runs in the second inning and four runs in the seventh inning. Thier big bats in the inning were led by a single by Sean Whalen and a double by Rosencranz.

Praxie Vigil led the Plainsmen to victory on the hill. He allowed three hits and one run over three innings, striking out three and walking zero. A number of pitchers entered the game as relief, with Jordan Chappell, Juan Esparza, Cameron Phillips, and Jonah Coleman all securing outs and ultimately the victory.

In total, the Plainsmen had 15 hits. Adamscheck, Rosencranz, Aaron Stinnett, Whalen, and Corbin Geisendorf each collected multiple hits. Geisendorf, Whalen, Stinnett, Rosencranz, and Adamscheck each managed two hits to lead Northeastern.

The Plainsmen will be back in action on Wednesday, Mar. 20 as they host the Western Nebraska Cougars for another divisional game.