HAMMOND, Ind. – The Purdue Northwest baseball team split Saturday's doubleheader against Davenport in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action. The Pride bounced back for an 8-5 victory in Game 2 after the Panthers claimed a 2-0 triumph in the first contest at Dowling Park.
PNW moved to 8-12 (2-9 GLIAC) on the season while Davenport now sits at 14-9 (7-4 GLIAC) overall.
GAME 1: DU 2, PNW 0
The first game of Saturday's twinbill featured a pair of stellar pitching performances with PNW's
Chad Patrick and DU's James Rogers on the hill.
Patrick logged his sixth consecutive complete game with 10 strikeouts, but fell victim to a pair of timely Davenport hits.
The Panthers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning after the leadoff runner reached on an error and the visitors took advantage of the miscue by plating the unearned run on a double to right field. DU added the second run of the game after a pair of singles led to an RBI groundout in the seventh inning.
Patrick (4-2) allowed six hits with one walk and he surrendered just his fifth earned run in 42 innings (1.07 ERA) this season.
DU's Rogers tossed six shutout frames with seven strikeouts to improve to 5-2. The left-hander worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning and didn't allow a Pride runner to reach second base the rest of the game.
Cal Djuraskovic earned the save for the second game in a row for the Panthers – his fifth of the season.
Anthony Agne led the Pride with a 2-for-3 effort at the plate. Agne also produced two hits in the second game and leads the squad with eight multi-hit games on the year.
Jake Soules,
Ray Hilbrich and
Ray Hansen each recorded a base knock.
GAME 2: PNW 8, DU 5
PNW piled up a season-high 18 hits and shut down the DU offense over the final seven frames in the Game 2 victory – which snapped a recent four-game slide.
Joe Sullivan (2-0) took the mound in his first start and went seven innings to earn his second win of the year. The left-hander gave up five earned on eight hits, but settled in nicely and found his groove to retire 12 of 14 batters through the middle frames. He finished with three strikeouts on the day.
The Pride got on the board with an RBI single from
Ray Hansen in the first inning, but the Panthers responded with four runs to claim the lead in the next frame.
PNW then countered by plating three runs in the bottom of the second to tie the score, 4-4, and the Pride would push three more across in the fourth to take the lead for good.
Andrew Petsche ignited the three-run fourth with a leadoff single – the freshman, who also doubled, was one of three players with three hits. Hilbrich, who is hitting .500 (6-for-12) in the series, and Hansen each collected three base knocks in the second game.
Agne,
Tyler Schultz and
Riley Gallagher each registered two hits.
An RBI double from Gallagher made it 8-4 PNW in the fifth inning. Davenport would add its final run in the seventh before
Nathan Boyer slammed the door in the eighth and ninth frames to record his first save.
NEXT UP
PNW and Davenport will meet for the series finale Sunday at Dowling Park. First pitch is scheduled for noon CDT.
