ROMEOVILLE. Ill. – The Purdue Northwest baseball team dropped both games against Lewis on Sunday, which snapped the Pride's 10-game win streak.
PNW (10-3) narrowly lost Game 1 by a 5-4 mark, but the host Flyers (4-8-1) recorded a 26-1 victory in the nightcap.
Game 1: Lewis 5, PNW 4
With
Hayden Matulich (San Jose, Calif./Pioneer) on second and
Gannon Andrews (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern High School) on first,
Tyler Schultz (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) belted a two-out pitch deep to left field allowing Matulich to cross the plate and breaking open the scoreless tie.
PNW held onto the 1-0 lead until the bottom of the fourth when the Flyers scored four runs on just one hit, but were aided by a pair of unfortunate and ill-timed errors by the Pride defense.
The Pride quickly answered back by tying the game at 4-4 in the top of the fifth. With the bases loaded and one out, Schultz drove in a pair on another double with this one to right center to score Matulich and Andrews.
Luke Montgomery (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence High School) crossed the plate as the game-tying run after a balk called on the Lewis pitcher.
Lewis would get the game-winning run on what initially appeared to be an inning-ending double play but the exchange at second base was bobbled, and no throw could be attempted.
Joe Buikema (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) (1-1) was tagged with the loss in relief after going two innings and allowing one run, despite not giving up a hit while striking out three.
Sam Shively (Mishawaka, Ind./Mishawaka (Taylor)) (4.0 IP, 2 ER, 1 K, 4 BB) started and held the Flyers scoreless for the first three innings.
Game 2: Lewis 26, PNW 1
After Matulich's sacrifice fly in the top of the first scored
Ethan Imlach (Mokena, Ill./Mount Carmel), it was all downhill from there as Lewis scored multiple runs in five of six innings highlighted by 11 in the top of the first.
UP NEXT
PNW will look to return to its winning ways when it welcomes in Saginaw Valley State to Dowling Park. The Pride will host the Cardinals in a four-game weekend series to open play in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference portion of the schedule. First pitch for Friday's single contest is slated for 3 p.m. CDT.
FOLLOW THE PRIDE
For all the latest information on Purdue Northwest Baseball, please visit PNWathletics.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Pride (@pnwathletics / @PNW_Baseball) on Twitter. You can also find the Pride on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
