Reardan baseball loses to NW Christian

REARDAN — The Screaming Eagles dropped two games to third-ranked Northwest Christian 6-2 and 14-3 Saturday, April 15.

The Crusaders entered the two-game set having outscored their opponents 59-20 while posting a 6-1 record.

In the opener, NWC tagged Reardan pitcher Tate Nelson with four runs in the first two innings. After that, Nelson settled in and held the Crusaders scoreless until Tyler Clouse replaced him in the seventh inning.

“Nelson did a good job on the mound limiting the damage to a really good offensive team,” Reardan head coach Matt Clouse said.

In the final inning, NWC scored two runs off Clouse. Reardan countered in the bottom of the seventh inning on runs scored by Andrew Schulz and Nelson.

Hunter Flaa led Reardan with two hits and Clouse and Craig Rinehart each collected one hit in the 6-2 loss.

“We struggled offensively against their ace,but we kept battling,” Matt Clouse said.

The second game ended after five innings under the “mercy rule” as Reardan pitchers walked 10 batters, allowing the Crusaders to score 12 runs in the fourth inning en route to their 14-3 win.

Evan Moser and Jacob Bodeau collected the Screaming Eagles only two hits in the loss.

“Once again, Northwest Christian scored some early runs,” Matt Clouse said. “Then the wheels fell off in the fourth inning when we struggled to find three outs.”

The two wins improved NWC’s record to 8-1. Reardan dropped to 6-7.