ST. PAUL, Minn. - After tying the game at two in the fifth inning, the Hamline baseball team (2-7) would see the game slip away in the later innings as Northwestern (7-6) rallied for 10 runs between the sixth and eighth innings to claim a 12-2 win on their home turf.
 
The Pipers tallied nine hits throughout the nine-inning game, but struggled to hit people in, leaving 12 people on base. First year Matt Rusch and sophomore Ian Sandbo each had two hits for HU in the contest, with first year Braeden Bourne and senior Colton Peters each driving in a run.
 
After the Eagles scored in the first inning, Hamline would tie it up in the third as Bourne hit his second home run of the season (a blast over the left field fence) to make it 1-1.
 
Northwestern answered with a homer of their own in the bottom of the inning to once again take over a lead. Peters helped the Pipers tie it at two apiece driving in junior Cullen Buck on an infield single in the fifth inning.  
 
From there, the UNW offense took over, scoring four runs in the sixth, and three runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings to earn the win.
 
Sophomore Zach Branson started on the mound for Hamline, pitching 5.2 innings and giving up six runs (five earned) on eight hits while striking out five. Junior Will Tzavaras came in in relief giving up three runs in his 0.2 innings pitched and junior Taylor Just closed out the game, giving up three runs in the final 1.2 innings.  
 
The Pipers will now look ahead to conference play, as they open the MIAC portion of the season next Friday, hosting Concordia for a 2:30 p.m. game before heading up to Moorhead for a doubleheader on Saturday.