DETROIT – A seven-run rally and a game-ending out at the plate were the culmination of a thrilling 11-10 victory for the Purdue University Northwest baseball team over Wayne State on Sunday afternoon.
PNW (18-17, 7-13 GLIAC) is now just 0.050 percentage points behind Saginaw Valley State for fifth place in the GLIAC standings with the top six advancing to the postseason tournament in Gary, Indiana.
Wayne State (30-14, 15-7 GLIAC) once again jumped out to an early lead after the first inning with four runs in the stanza and knocking PNW starting pitcher Joseph Sullivan from the game with only two thirds of an inning pitched.
Noah Burgh (Warsaw, Ind./Warsaw Community High School) came in and tossed a brilliant game in relief from the last out in the first through the end of the sixth inning to keep the Pride's hopes of pulling out a victory alive.
The Pride cracked the scoreboard in the third inning when
Anthony Fumagalli's (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North High School) double to left center scored
Ray Hilbrich (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central).
Bret Matthys (Cedar Lake, Ind./Hanover Central) then pelted the next pitch over the right field fence for a three-run home run to tie the game at 4-4. Fumagalli and
Jack Gallagher (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North High School) also scored on the play.
The score remained knotted at 4-4 until the bottom of the sixth when Wayne State finally got to Burgh for a pair of runs with two outs in the inning for a 6-4 advantage.
Hilbrich and
Hayden Matulich (San Jose, Calif./Pioneer) made sure the WSU advantage did not last long, leading off the seventh inning with back-to-back home runs to tie the game at 6-6. Hilbrich's home run was the fifth of his career and third of the season; both of which are top-five career and season marks in PNW's history.
Jake Soules (Troy, Mich./Troy High School) would give PNW the lead when his two-out seventh inning single to right field pushed across Gallagher to make it 7-6 in favor of the Pride.
Tyler Schultz (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) led off the top of the eighth with another PNW home run with this being well over the center field wall, prompting the fourth of five WSU pitching changes on the day and giving the Pride an 8-6 advantage of their own.
Ethan Imlach's (Mokena, Ill./Mount Carmel) bases-loaded double to right center scored Soules and
Luke Montgomery (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence High School) to make it 10-6, before Schultz's sacrifice fly to center field scored Soules from third and would prove to be the game-winning run.
The drama in the bottom of the ninth got going when the Warriors added a three-run home run of their own to make it 11-9 in favor of PNW. A strikeout and walk led to a PNW pitching change to bring in
Jackson Lund (Big Rapids, Mich./Big Rapids High School).
Lund then walked the first batter he saw and was pushed to a 3-1 count on the next batter before a hit to right field. The runner at second scored easily but the runner at first was gunned down by at least two strides after a perfect relay from Hilbrich to Imlach to Gallagher ended the contest.
Matthys had a monster performance at the plate going 4 for 5 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Imlach added a 3-for-6 outing and drove in a pair of his own.
Soules, Hilbrich, Gallagher and Fumagalli all collected two-hit performances while Schultz drove in two.
Burgh (2-1) picked up the win in relief going 5.1 innings and allowing two runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and four walks.
Jackson Lund (Big Rapids, Mich./Big Rapids High School) picked up his first save of the season by recording the final out of the game.
The loss dropped Wayne State out of first place in the GLIAC standings with the Warriors a mere 0.002 percentage points behind Davenport with one weekend left in the regular season.
UP NEXT
PNW will remain on the road to close out the regular season with a four-game set at Davenport next weekend. Friday's first pitch in Caledonia is scheduled 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.
