CALEDONIA, Mich. – Poor defensive execution was the demise for the Purdue Northwest baseball team in dropping Game 2 on Saturday 6-4 after having led for most of the game against Davenport.
PNW (18-20, 7-16 GLIAC) pounded out a weekend-best 11 hits in the Game 2 loss after stringing together seven hits in the 3-1 loss in the day's first game.
Davenport (29-20, 17-6 GLIAC) is firmly in the driver's seat for the top seed in next week's GLIAC Baseball Tournament and earned back-to-back GLIAC regular season crowns.
GAME 1: DAVENPORT 3, PURDUE NORTHWEST 1
Davenport took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, but PNW responded with two outs in the top of the third on
Ray Hilbrich's (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) RBI single up the middle to score
Ethan Imlach (Mokena, Ill./Mount Carmel).
The Panthers responded with single runs in the third and fourth innings for the 3-1 final margin.
Seven different batters combined for the seven hits with Hilbrich's single being the lone run-producing hit.
Jack Gallagher (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North High School) and
Hayden Matulich (San Jose, Calif./Pioneer) both collected doubles for their hits.
Noah Burgh (Warsaw, Ind./Warsaw Community High School) (3-1) took his first loss of the season going 4.1 innings giving up seven hits, three runs, four strikeouts and a walk.
Anthony Noble (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central High School) tossed 1.2 scoreless and hitless innings in relief with a strikeout and a walk.
GAME 2: DAVENPORT 6, PURDUE NORTHWEST 4
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead with two outs in the bottom of the first inning and remained in front until the top of the third.
Hilbrich once again got the Pride on the scoreboard when his double down the right-field line plated
Alex Gasbarro (New Lenox, Ill./St. Laurence High School) from first. Hilbrich scored six pitches later when Imlach laced a seed back up the middle to give PNW a 2-1 advantage.
The lead grew to 4-1 in the top of the fourth on Gasbarro's perfectly placed two-out single through the right side, which brought in
Tyler Schultz (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) and
Anthony Fumagalli (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North High School).
Unfortunately for the Pride, that would be all the run scoring for the rest of the game before errors did them in during the seventh and eighth innings.
Davenport tied the game with an earned run in the seventh before a failed pickoff attempt gave the Panthers a 5-4 advantage. An insurance run was added in the eighth for Davenport on a dropped fly ball for the 6-4 final margin.
Brett Matthys took the no-decision with one of his better starts on the season as he went 4.1 innings giving up three runs with only one earned on eight hits, one strikeout and one walk. Noble (0-6) picked up the loss in relief giving up two runs with one earned on two hits and two walks in just 0.2 innings pitched.
UP NEXT
PNW will look to avoid the series sweep when both teams return to action at the Farmers Insurance Complex for the regular-season finale. First pitch 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.
