Borg has five-hit day as Beaver Baseball splits with Wildcats
Junior Parker Borg’s five-hit day helped Bemidji State University baseball earn a midweek split against Wayne State College on Tuesday with a 1-0 loss and an 11-9 win. Borg totaled four hits in the Beavers’ (3-17, 2-13 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) win over the Wildcats (6-10, 4-7 NSIC) while junior pitcher Logan Barrick threw a complete game in the Tuesday opener.
Game One – L, 1-0
Barrick (0-2) opened his complete game with a lead-off single to WSC who was moved over to third on a ground out and a sacrifice bunt. An RBI single gave the Wildcats their only lead of the game and the only run given up by Barrick.
BSU reached one baserunner through the first three innings before junior Sam Kalberer recorded the Beavers’ first hit of the day on a single up the middle in the fourth. Senior Isaiah Grancorvitz followed with a two-out single before the inning was ended on a fielder’s choice.
Bemidji State added two more two-out hits in the bottom of the sixth inning from Kalberer and Borg to set up the tying runner on second. A ground out ended the sixth inning before BSU threatened again with two outs in the seventh inning. Sophomore John Perkins came up with a two-out double down the left field line followed by a walk to setup two runners on base for senior Noah Boser. A fly out ended the game as each team left seven runners on base.
Kalberer led BSU with two hits while Borg, Grancorvitz and Perkins each recorded one hit each. Barrick ended his game with one earned allowed on eight hits and four strikeouts.
Game Two – W, 11-9
The Wildcats again came away with 1-0 lead after the top of the first inning in game two as a lead-off walk and stolen base set up an RBI single up the middle. WSC added on in the second inning as the first two batters reached on walks and were brought home on a throwing error and a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.
Bemidji State grabbed its first lead of the day in the bottom of the third inning as Wayne State committed three errors. All of BSU’s baserunners came with two outs, led by sophomore Tom Keohen with a walk followed by Kalberer who reached on an error. Borg brought in BSU’s first two runs with a single up the middle while another WSC error allowed Borg to score and tie the game, 3-3. A double steal and error on the throw attempt home allowed sophomore Carter Simon to score to give BSU a 4-3 lead.
The Wildcats grabbed the lead back in the top of the fourth behind two hits, the second an RBI single down the right field line, and a fielder’s choice to go ahead, 5-4. The back-and-forth game continued in the bottom of the fourth inning as the first BSU batters reached base to set up a sac bunt to move the runners. The Beavers reached the next two batters by a walk and a hit by pitch while back-to-back singles from Borg and Simon gave BSU the lead again, 8-5. Grancorvitz extended the lead to 9-5 on a sac fly before exiting the inning.
The Beavers extended the lead to six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on one hit and one Wildcat error, their fifth of the game. Borg led off the inning with his third single of the game before being brought home on another sac fly by Grancorvitz. With runners on the corners, a WSC wild pitch allowed freshman Brooks Bachmann to score from third to put BSU’s lead at 11-5.
It looked again like Wayne State would come back for another run at the lead after scoring three runs on four hits in the top of the seventh inning before junior pitcher Travis Carruth entered to pitch in the eighth inning. He limited WSC to one hit and one walk over the final two innings while the Wildcats scored one unearned run in the top of the ninth.
(this interview was recorded prior to this doubleheader)
Borg went 4-of-5 from the plate in game two with three RBI, three runs scored, three singles and one double. Bachmann and Simon joined Borg with multiple hits, each garnering two singles in the game. Freshman pitcher Hunter Haggenmiller (1-1) earned the win after throwing 2.1 innings with two strikeouts with two earned runs allowed on four hits. Carruth earned his first save of the season with two strikeouts and one hit allowed against eight batters faced.
Bemidji State will take the upcoming weekend off before returning to action Wednesday, April 14 at 1:30 p.m. during a doubleheader against Concordia University-St. Paul.