GARY, Ind. — Sixth-seeded Purdue Northwest knocked off fourth-seeded Grand Valley State, 11-3, to remain unbeaten in the GLIAC Baseball Tournament Friday at The Steel Yard. It's the first time in school history that the Pride have won two games in postseason play.
PNW (20-21) advances to Saturday morning's contest in the winner's bracket where it will face the winner of Friday night's game between No. 2 Wayne State or No. 3 Northwood. A win on Saturday puts the Pride in Sunday's championship round. A loss would force the Pride into an elimination game Saturday night at The Steel Yard.
GVSU was eliminated from the double-elimination tournament and finishes the year with a 30-20 record.
The Pride broke open a scoreless game with six runs in the sixth and played extremely well defensively to claim their second straight win over the Lakers. The sixth-inning scoring featured a sacrifice fly from
Bret Matthys (Cedar Lake, Ind./Hanover Central) and a pair of RBI singles from
Hayden Matulich (San Jose, Calif./Pioneer) and
Anthony Fumagalli (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North High School) to make it 3-0. Three more runs were manufactured on a bases-loaded walk and pair of fielder's choice grounders.
Starter
Joe Buikema (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) (4-2) tossed five shutout frames with three strikeouts while allowing four hits and pair of walks. The right-hander stranded six runners including two each in the fourth and the fifth, but the biggest play came in the second inning. After the first two batters reached for GVSU, a sharp liner up the middle was snagged by
Ethan Imlach (Mokena, Ill./Mount Carmel) and flipped on to
Tyler Schultz (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) covering second base for the double play. Buikema struck out the next batter to leave the runner at third base.
Matthys led off the seventh inning with a solo blast to right field to give the Pride a 7-0 lead. He's now tied for the team lead with three home runs — a new freshman single-season record for the PNW baseball program.
Ray Hilbrich (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) (2 for 6, RBI) and Schultz (2 for 4, 2 R) each registered a pair of knocks as eight of the nine Pride hitters hit safely in the contest.
Luke Montgomery (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence High School) reached base three times via walk.
After the Lakers plated three in the bottom of the seventh, PNW tacked on four more runs in the ninth for the comfortable lead.
Jake Soules (Troy, Mich./Troy High School) lifted a sacrifice fly and then a two-run single by
Jack Gallagher (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North High School) to center field made the score 10-3. Imlach knocked in the final run for the Pride on a single to the left side. For Gallagher, the junior catcher extended his hitting streak to 11 games with the base knock in his final at-bat.
Anthony Noble (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central High School) and
Riley Gallagher (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North High School) recorded the final 12 outs in relief action. Gallagher allowed just one hit and one walk over the final two-and-a-third.
GVSU starter Collin Bradley (6-4) was charged with the loss despite not allowing an earned run (6 unearned). The redshirt-freshman surrendered six hits and walked one to go with three strikeouts.
| 2022 GLIAC BASEBALL TOURNAMENT (DOUBLE-ELIMINATION) |
|
| THURSDAY, May 12 |
| GAME 2 |
11 AM |
#2 Wayne State 10, #4 Saginaw Valley State 4 |
| GAME 1 |
3 PM |
#6 Purdue Northwest 10, #1 Davenport 8 |
| GAME 3 |
7 PM |
#3 Northwood 11, #4 Grand Valley State 6 |
| FRIDAY, May 13 |
| GAME 4 |
11 AM |
#1 Davenport 12, #5 Saginaw Valley State 8 |
| GAME 5 |
3 PM |
#6 Purdue Northwest 11, #4 Grand Valley State 3 |
| GAME 6 |
7 PM |
#2 Wayne State vs. #3 Northwood |
| SATURDAY, May 14 |
| GAME 7 |
10 AM** |
#6 Purdue Northwest vs. TBD (at Dowling Park) |
| GAME 8 |
2 PM** |
#1 Davenport vs. TBD (at Dowling Park) |
| Game 9 |
7:30 PM |
At U.S. SteelYard |
| SUNDAY, May 15 |
| GAME 10 |
11:30 AM |
Championship Game |
| GAME 11 |
|
If-Necessary Game |
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.
