March 7

Game 1 box score
Game 2 box score

Clark University's Matt Tillo stifled Northland College in a 6-1 win in game one, but the LumberJacks rallied for three runs in the sixth for a thrilling 8-6 win on the final day of the Russ Matt Invitational in Port Charlotte, FL.

Northland (1-7) got to Tillo early as they took a 1-0 lead in the second inning after Corey Stibbe's RBI groundout scored Cody Carroll, who led off with a single to center.

In the bottom of the second, Tyler Teadt had to leave the game with a shoulder injury.  Alex Tsomaya came in relief and surrendered an RBI double that tied the game at 1-1.

With Tillo shutting down the LumberJacks' offense, the Cougars grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fourth on an unearned run.

Not that Tillo needed any more offensive support but he got more than he certainly would need as Clark (5-3) exploded for four runs on four hits in the sixth inning.

Outside of Carroll's single in the second inning, Tillo's only other hits he would allow were back-to-back singles to Mike Stevens and Matt Tanneberg in the sixth.  He wound up striking out ten and walking just one.

In the second game, Northland, after blowing a four-run lead, rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to earn a split with Clark University.

In the first with one out, Michael Cross walked and Matt Tanneberg singled.  After Cross stole third and Tanneberg swiped second, Chris Steiner gave Northland an early 2-0 lead on his sharp single to center.

Clark (5-4) scored on a Tanneberg wild pitch in the second to cut the lead in half.  But in the third, the Jacks scored three runs on four hits, highlighted by the bottom of the order.

Jeff Diehl, making only his second start behind the plate, was hit by a pitch to start the inning.  Ryan Freidel grounder to second advanced Diehl into scoring position.  Chad Moore, making his first start at second, collected his first collegiate hit as he singled to left.  After an infield popout, Cross's ground ball through the left side scored Diehl.  Tanneberg then followed with a single up the middle to plate Moore and give Northland a 4-1 lead.  The consecutives kept coming as Cody Carroll stroked a single through the right side to bring home Cross and to push the lead to 5-1.

Tanneberg was cruising on the mound until he hit a speed bump in the fourth.  Five of the six batters he faced reached base and resulted in the Cougars cutting the lead to 5-4.  Will Opdyk came in relief and surrendered a sacrifice fly and an RBI single.  After it was all done, Clark scored five runs on four hits and took a 6-5 lead.

All week long, Northland (2-7) had hit balls hard that were continually knocked down by the hallowing winds blowing in and had nothing to show for it.  In the sixth, the winds started to turn around a bit and reward the Jacks.  Bryce Szymanski's long fly to left kept carrying and carrying until it landed just over the leftfield fence and tied the game at 6-6.  With two outs, Tanneberg doubled down the leftfield line.  Carroll hit a routine grounder to short that should have ended the inning, but the throw to first was off target and allowed not only Carroll to advance to second, but enabled Tanneberg score the eventual game-winner.  The Jacks would have Carroll at third, after a passed ball and Steiner, after a walk, on first.  A delayed steal by Steiner caught Clark off guard an another errant throw produced a huge insurance run.

After throwing 4.1 innings the day before and a shaky start in relief, Opdyk mowed through the Cougars lineup as he allowed only two hits in 3.2 innings while striking out four and walking just one to pick up the win.

Tanneberg went 3-4 on the day while six of the nine starters collected at least one hit.  Up next for Northland is visit to Robert Morris College on March 21st for a 1:00 PM doubleheader.