HAMMOND, Ind. — For the second day in a row, Purdue Northwest and Saginaw Valley State restarted a suspended game after Saturday's nightcap at Dowling Park was halted due to darkness.
With SVSU leading 13-1, the teams picked up in the bottom of the seventh on Sunday afternoon with temps hovering in the 20s.
But the Pride went right to work and chipped away the deficit by scoring nine runs on seven hits to pull within three.
Riley Gallagher (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North High School) ignited the rally with a leadoff single as the Pride sent 14 batters to the plate.
Ethan Imlach (Mokena, Ill./Mount Carmel),
Hayden Matulich (San Jose, Calif./Pioneer),
Luke Montgomery (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence High School) and
Blaze Cano (Cedar Lake, Ind./Hanover Central) all registered RBI base knocks. Gallagher, Imlach and Cano each reached base twice during the rally. Gallagher's two-run triple in his second at-bat of the inning made it 13-9, then back-to-back singles from Cano and Imlach made it 13-10.
However, the late-game magic ran dry as the Pride could only get one batter aboard across the final two innings after the Cardinals brought in reliever Hunter Merillat.
Montgomery led the Pride at the dish, going 3 for 6 with an RBI and two runs scored. PNW tallied 11 hits with nine going as singles and the Pride were able to draw 12 walks. Gallagher's triple in the seventh-inning rally and a double from
Bret Matthys (Cedar Lake, Ind./Hanover Central) were the lone extra-base hits.
The visiting Cardinals racked up 15 hits with six doubles and a triple. Both teams were charged with a pair of errors.
Left-hander
Joe Sullivan (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein High School) (2-1) was saddled with his first loss after going four innings with a pair of strikeouts. He allowed six earned runs on six hits and four walks.
Nathan Boyer (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest) (3.0 IP, 7 ER) and
Nate Barbato (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest (Concordia (MI))) (2.0 IP, 3 K) pitched in relief for the Pride.
SVSU led 2-1 after three innings with both runs scoring on a pair of sacrifice flies. Then, the Cards added four runs in the fourth, four more in the fifth and three in the seventh to extend the lead.
UP NEXT
PNW and SVSU close out the weekend series with a nine-inning contest on Sunday afternoon. The Pride will then host Lewis in a non-conference matchup on Wednesday.
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