HAMMOND, Ind. -- Purdue University Northwest Head Baseball Coach Dave Griffin captured his 100th career win at PNW as the Pride came back and rallied to defeat the Lewis Flyers, 7-5, at Dowling Park, Thursday.
Lewis jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning with a solo home run. Ray Hilbrich (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) tied it back up with an RBI double which scored Hunter Thorn (Portage, Ind./Portage) from second.
PNW took the lead in the bottom of the second inning after a double play scored a run to make it 2-1. The Flyers had the answer right away with back-to-back home runs to take a 3-2 lead in the third frame.
The Pride tied it back up at 3-all in the bottom half with an RBI groundout by Kevin McCune (Munster, Ind./Andrean) which scored Hilbrich.
Another lead change took place as Lewis responded with another run to go ahead 4-3 in the top of the fourth inning.
McCune tied it up at 4 after hitting into a double play that scored Thorn. Junior Anthony Agne (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) gave PNW a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single that scored Hilbrich.
Lewis did not go away as the Flyers tied it right back at 5 with a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth inning.
Junior Nick Albanese (Algonquin, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) ripped an RBI triple in the bottom half of the frame to take the lead for PNW. Thorn expanded it to 7-5 as the junior reached on an error which scored Albanese. That score would hold
Alex Batistatos (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) recorded his first save of the season as he closed out the ninth inning with three straight outs after the lead-off guy reached first.
Caden Bell (Hammond, Ind./HAST) took a no-decision after his start on the mound, throwing four innings, scattering five hits, allowing four runs (all earned), did not issue a walk and struck out six.
PNW has a quick turnaround as the Pride begin a four-game Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series against Parkside starting on Friday at 3 p.m. CT.
