HAMMOND, Ind. – The Purdue Northwest baseball team earned a series split with Northwood after dropping the finale 9-7 despite a furious rally late.
Down 8-2 going into the bottom of the sixth, PNW (13-11, 2-7 GLIAC) used four consecutive one-out singles, a walk and another single to string together four runs to draw to within 8-6 before double play ended the scoring threat.
Alex Gasbarro (New Lenox, Ill./St. Laurence High School) and
Bret Matthys (Cedar Lake, Ind./Hanover Central) drove in
Tyler Schultz (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) and
Ray Hilbrich (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central), respectively, before
Hayden Matulich (San Jose, Calif./Pioneer) brought Gasbarro and Matthys on a single back up the middle.
Hilbrich would draw the Pride closer at 8-7 when his two-out double to deep center field allowed
Tyler Schultz (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) to score all the way from first.
An error by the PNW defense would eventually give Northwood (19-15-1, 6-6 GLIAC) an insurance run in the eighth for the final 9-7 margin.
Northwood got a strong starting pitching performance out of Drew Schultz, who went five innings giving up just two runs with one earned on two hits while walking two and striking out six to keep the Pride off balance during his outing.
It was the pitching change going into the bottom of the sixth that got the PNW bats going as they rattled off the bulk of their runs off the first two relievers.
Down 3-0, PNW got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third when Northwood's Schultz threw the ball down the right field line on a pickoff attempt to get
Jack Gallagher (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North High School) out at first. Matulich scored from second on the play.
It would be another errant throw that brought in another PNW run in the fourth as Schultz crossed the plate on a wild pitch from the Northwood starter.
Jack Sielatycki (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern) (1-1) took the loss on the mound for PNWafter he failed to make it out of the second inning going 1.2 innings giving up three runs with two being earned on four hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
Anthony Noble (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central High School) had a strong appearance in relief going three innings with two unearned runs given up on just one hit while walking two and striking out one.
Riley Gallagher (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North High School) also pitched extremely well in his relief appearance tossing the final two innings of the game without giving up a run and striking out five with one hit in eight batters faced.
UP NEXT
The Pride will return to Allendale, Michigan, to complete the series against Grand Valley State. First pitch for Game 1 of Tuesday's doubleheader is slated for 11 a.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.
