HAMMOND, Ind. – On Saturday, the Purdue Northwest baseball team nearly rallied all the way back from a nine-run deficit but was eventually defeated by Saginaw Valley State 17-12 in the completion of Friday's second game that was originally halted in the third inning.
Saturday's originally scheduled contest followed and was nearly finished as well, but darkness at Dowling Park caused the third game of the series to be suspended. The Cardinals lead 13-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning as that game will be picked back up on Sunday prior to the series finale.
PNW (10-5, 0-2 GLIAC) trailed 13-4 after six frames and battled their way back into Saturday's early contest with seven runs in the seventh inning and another in the eighth, trimming the SVSU lead down to one, 13-12.
Hayden Matulich (San Jose, Calif./Pioneer) got the seventh inning scoring started when he singled up the middle to score
Alex Gasbarro (New Lenox, Ill./St. Laurence High School) from third. An
Anthony Fumagalli (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North High School) single followed by a
Jack Gallagher (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North High School) walk loaded the bases, which set the stage for the next three PNW batters to collect hits and drive in five runs.
Jake Soules' (Troy, Mich./Troy High School) single to left field plated Matulich,
Luke Montgomery (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence High School) sent a double to right center to bring in Gallagher and Fumagalli, then a
Tyler Schultz (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) hit back up the middle drove in Soules and Montgomery.
Three batters later,
Bret Matthys (Cedar Lake, Ind./Hanover Central) doublesd to right field to bring in Schultz and cut the lead for the Cardinals down to 13-11.
Montgomery collected another RBI in the eighth inning when his ground ball to the pitcher was good enough to see Fumagalli race in from third to pull the Pride to within 13-12.
Unfortunately for the PNW faithful that braved the elements, the Pride couldn't close the gap and gave up four in the ninth for the 17-12 final margin.
When the game was picked back up in the bottom of the third after having been suspended from the previous afternoon due to inclement weather, PNW was trailing 5-3 thanks to a three-run third by way of RBI singles from Gasbarro, Matthys and Matulich.
Soules added a run in the bottom of the fourth when he scored courtesy of a passed ball from the SVSU catcher.
PNW finished with 17 hits with seven batters collecting at least two hits each including Soules, Montgomery, Schultz,
Ray Hilbrich (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central), Matthys, Matulich and Fumagalli. Matthys and Matulich led the way with three hits.
Montgomery and Matthys each tallied a double while Schultz jumped into a tie for first on the team in triples with his second of the season.
Montgomery drove in three runs and scored twice while teammates Schultz, Matthys and Matulich collected a pair of RBI each as well as Soules, Gasbarro and Fumagalli scoring two runs apiece.
Anthony Noble (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central High School) (0-3) took the loss on the mound for the Pride going two innings and giving up three runs on one hit and six walks.
UP NEXT
The Pride will conclude the weekend series against the Cardinals on Sunday with the final two-plus innings of Game 3, followed by the finale in Game 4.
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