MIDLAND, Michigan – The Lake Erie baseball team returned to Michigan for a second straight weekend for a series against the Northwood Timberwolves. Northwood would make a statement in games one and two with an 11-0 no hitter and run rule victory in game one and a 16-2 run rule victory in game two. Northwood came back from a seven-run deficit to force extra innings and would walk off in game three for an 8-7 victory. Lake Erie showed late inning magic to take game four 5-1 to snap Northwood's win streak at 20 games. 
 
Team Records
 
Lake Erie: 18-17 (10-10)
Northwood: 25-11 (19-1) 
 
Game Recaps
 
Game 1:
Northwood- 11
Lake Erie- 0
 
Northwood would jump out to an early lead in the first, scoring three runs on three hits and an error for a 3-0 lead. The Timberwolves would grow their lead to 8-0 at the end of three innings, putting up one in the second and four in the third. Northwood would add three more runs on three hits and an error for an 11-0 lead. The Storm would show life in the sixth, getting runners on second and third, but each would be left stranded. Lake Erie would be no hit in game one as Northwood would take the 11-0 run rule victory in game one. 
 
W: Tyler Sager (5-1) - 7.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BBs, 7 Ks
L: Robert Helt (4-4) - 3.0 IP, 10 H, 8 R (6 ER), 0 BBs, 2 Ks
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 3, Timberwolves- 9
Walks: Storm- 3, Timberwolves- 4
Strikeouts: Storm- 7, Timberwolves- 5
Stolen Bases: Storm- 0, Timberwolves- 1
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 4, Timberwolves- 3
Strikeouts: Storm- 5, Timberwolves- 7
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 1, Timberwolves- 1
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 2, Timberwolves- 0
 
Game 2:
Northwood- 16
Lake Erie- 2
 
Northwood kept the momentum going as they would jolt to a 1-0 in the first. The Timberwolves would add one more for a 2-0 lead in the second. Lake Erie would get their first hit of the series in the third with a single from Zimba Cadiz along with scoring their first run on a Jaxson Christ RBI single to bring the score to 2-1. Northwood immediately answered back in the bottom half, growing their lead to 5-1 on a three-run home run. Christ would record his second RBI single of the game in the fifth, bringing the score to 5-2. The Timberwolves would respond back in the bottom half putting up five runs on four hits to grow their lead to 10-2. Northwood kept piling on the runs with six more in the sixth on four hits for a 16-2 lead. A pinch hit single by Ryne Buckley in the seventh would not be enough as the Timberwolves secured the 16-2 win, their second straight run-rule victory.
 
W: Adam Wandzel (2-0) – 2.2 IP, 2 H, ER, 3 BBs, K
L: Alex Caudill (3-2) – 2.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 4 BBs, 2 Ks
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 7, Timberwolves- 9
Walks: Storm- 4, Timberwolves- 11
Strikeouts: Storm- 5, Timberwolves- 6
Stolen Bases: Storm- 0, Timberwolves- 3
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 11, Timberwolves- 4
Strikeouts: Storm- 6, Timberwolves- 5
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 2, Timberwolves- 2
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 0, Timberwolves- 1
 
Game 2 Top Storm Performers:
 
Soph. Jaxson Christ: 2-3, 2 RBI, HBP
Sr. Zimba Cadiz: 1-3, R
R-Soph. Mitchel Szymczak: 1-3
 
Game 3:
Northwood- 8
Lake Erie- 7
(8 Innings)
 
Lake Erie would jump out to an early 5-0 lead in the first with an RBI double from Garrett Esposito, an RBI sacrifice fly from Alex Jones, an RBI single from Seth Yacobucci, and a leadoff home run from Micah Geise, his second of the season. The Storm would add two more in the third with Jones and Yacobucci scoring on a wild pitches, growing the lead to 7-0. Northwood would get back into the game in the fifth, putting up six runs on only one hit and two errors, cutting the Lake Erie lead to 7-6. The Timberwolves would force extra innings by putting up one in the seventh, tying the score at 7-7. Northwood would walk off Lake Erie in the eighth to steal game three 8-7.  
 
W: Dominic Mauro (3-2) – 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BBs, 2 Ks
L: Brandon Metivier (1-2) – 0.2 IP, 2 H, R (0 ER), 2 BBs, K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 9, Timberwolves- 5
Walks: Storm- 6, Timberwolves- 5
Strikeouts: Storm- 9, Timberwolves- 8
Stolen Bases: Storm- 1, Timberwolves- 2
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 5, Timberwolves- 6
Strikeouts: Storm- 8, Timberwolves- 9
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 2, Timberwolves- 0
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 2, Timberwolves- 0
 
Game 3 Top Storm Performers:
 
R-Fr. Seth Yacobucci: 3-3, RBI, SB, R
Sr. Alex Jones: 1-3, 2B, RBI, R
Sr. Garrett Esposito: 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R 
 
Game 4:
Lake Erie- 5
Northwood- 1
 
Lake Erie would be the first on the board in the second with an RBI single from Sebastian Silva for a 1-0 lead. Northwood would tie the game at 1-1 in the third. Zimba Cadiz would put the Storm back in front in the sixth with a two out RBI single, plating two for a 3-1 lead. Lake Erie would add two more insurance runs in the seventh with an RBI single from Graham Solak, growing the lead to 5-1. Hunter Bays would come in for the save to take game four 5-1, snapping the Timberwolves win streak at 20.  
 
W: Gregory Kennedy (3-2) – 6.0 IP, 5 H, ER, 2 BBs, 9 Ks
L: Grant LaMarche (2-3) – 5.1 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 2 BBs, 5 Ks
S: Hunter Bays (2) – 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BBs, K
 
Key Team Stats:
 
Batting-
Runners Left on Base: Storm- 6, Timberwolves- 7
Walks: Storm- 3, Timberwolves- 2
Strikeouts: Storm- 7, Timberwolves- 10
Stolen Bases: Storm- 2, Timberwolves- 1
 
Pitching-
Walks: Storm- 2, Timberwolves- 3
Strikeouts: Storm- 10, Timberwolves- 7
Hit by Pitches: Storm- 1, Timberwolves- 1
 
Fielding-
Errors: Storm- 0, Timberwolves- 0
 
Game 4 Top Storm Performers:
 
Sr. Graham Solak: 1-4, 2 RBI, K
Sr. Zimba Cadiz: 1-2, 2 RBI
R-Fr. Seth Yacobucci: 3-3, R, SB
 
Series Evaluation
 
Offense Gets No-Hit: In the opening game of the series, the Storm offense was not able to generate any hits, only three walks. This is the fourth time the Storm have been no-hit in a game, and their first time since 2023 against Shepherd. The other two occasions were in the first game of 2012 against Southern Indiana and game three of a series against Tiffin in 2022. Notably, the batting average for the Storm offense has gone down in each of the past two series, going from .262 to .254 to .252, now last in the G-MAC.
 
Rough Weekend for the Staff: Despite the game four victory, the Lake Erie pitching staff struggled in the series. Coming into this series, Lake Erie had a 5.17 ERA and ended with a 5.58 ERA. In the first two games alone, the pitching staff gave up 27 runs, 22 of were earned runs and 15 walks. The pitching staff also blew a seven-run lead in the game three extra innings loss. The pitching staff still leads the G-MAC in opponent batting average (.240). 
 
Tough Competition = Tough Reality: Coming into the series, Northwood was leading the G-MAC in batting average and ERA, along with being third in fielding percentage and now lead in each of the categories. Northwood came in on a 17-game win streak and had it extended to 20 during the series, until the game four Storm victory, handing Northwood their first conference loss of the season. Northwood was also ranked 6th in the Midwest region in the latest NCBWA poll. 
 
The Matchup
 
Lake Erie's series defeat brings their all-time record to 13-16 against Northwood. Lake Erie's last series victory against Northwood came on the road in 2016. 
 
Looking Ahead
 
Lake Erie returns home for three straight series to finish the regular season with the first series coming against Ashland University beginning on Friday, April 18th.
 
Ashland is currently 27-10 overall and 16-4 in the G-MAC. Ashland has begun north division play sweeping Findlay at home and splitting with Tiffin on the road. Ashland is also currently ranked 4th in the Midwest region in the latest NCBWA poll. In the 2025 G-MAC preseason poll, the Eagles were voted as favorites to win the north division. 
 
Ashland currently is third in the G-MAC in batting average (.296), second in ERA (4.24), and tied for 2nd in fielding percentage (.968 with 41 errors).