Nebraska Wesleyan extended their winning streak to eight games and completed a perfect 4-0 weekend as the Prairie Wolves swept a GPAC baseball doubleheader at Northwestern College on Saturday (Apr. 14) in Orange City, Iowa. NWU won game one, 7-2, then took the second game, 7-3.
The Prairie Wolves (13-15, 9-3) have now won 11 of the last 14 games and are positioned in second place in the GPAC standings.
In game one, Alex Heideman hit a two-run home run and Beau Kelly hit a solo home run to put the Prairie Wolves ahead 3-0 in the top of the first inning. That is all that NWU starter Levi Clifton would need as he allowed one run in the first then through five straight scoreless innings.
The Prairie Wolves tacked on another run in the second inning as Tyler Vrba singled and courtesy runner Nick Dolson advanced on a wild pitch and passed ball then scored on a ground out by Griffin DePriest.
Heideman continued his hot hitting in the fifth inning as he tripled to drive in Tanner Lewis. It was the seventh triple of the year for Heideman, which has already set the NWU school record. Heideman and Josh Ostrom would score as Beau Kelly reached on an error by the center fielder.
Northwestern did add one run in the seventh off the NWU bullpen. Clifton improved to 2-4 on the mound as he allowed just four hits and one earned run in 6.0 innings. Clifton struck out six and walked just one.
A pitchers dual took place in the second game between Josh Ostrom and Harris from Northwestern.
NWU was held without a hit through the first five innings of the game. In the sixth inning, Tanner Lewis led off with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice. An intentional walk to Heideman put two on for Josh Ostrom.
Ostrom helped himself by knocking in two runs with a double. Later in the inning, Chris Johnson also hit a 2-run double and Justin Van Dyke got a pinch hit RBI single to allow NWU to plate five runs.
The Red Raiders finally got on the board in the seventh inning as they scored three runs, but it wasn't enough.
Ostrom got his third straight victory on the mound with a complete game victory to improve to 3-3. He allowed three runs on six hits with two strikeouts.
NWU will step out of conference for a non-GPAC doubleheader against Manhattan Christian on Tuesday (Apr. 17) in a makeup game.
