The Purdue Northwest baseball team traveled to Ave Maria University to begin their Florida Spring Break games. The Pride would split with Ave Maria losing game one 14-16 on a walk off homerun and win game two 10-7.
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The Basics
- Records: Purdue Northwest (3-7), Ave Maria (19-6)
- Location: Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Florida
- Doubleheader Split
Game 1, vs. Ave Maria - L, 14-16 (7 innings)
The Breakdown
- Graduate Ray Hilbrich led the Pride with four hits and four RBIs.
- Tyler Nelson, Luke Montgomery, Alex Gasbarro, Brad Miller (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest), and Jax Kalemba (Chicago, Ill./Adrean) also contributed two hits each.
- Freshman Conor Pangburn ()Â started on the mound for the Pride pitching five innings and recording three strikeouts.
- Gonzalez led Ave Maria with two hits and three RBIs.
- Willoughb started and pitched four innings for the Gyrenes and tallied four strikeouts.
- Ave Maria would strike first in the second inning putting up six runs.
- The Pride however would quickly get on the board as in the third and fourth inning the Pride would put up four runs with homeruns from Ray Hilbrich (Schererville, Ind./Lake Central) and Jonathan Sabotnik ().
- Ave Maria would tack on two more runs in the fourth but the Pride's offensive would not be silenced as they brought the game within one run in the fifth (7-8).
- The Pride would continue to score as in the sixth inning they would put up 7 runs to take a 14-8 lead.
- Ave Maria would put up a solid offensive performance and capitalize on some errors  in the bottom of the sixth to mount a comeback and tie the game 14-14.
- The Pride were unable to scratch across a run in the seventh and Ave Maria would secure there victory with a walk off two run homerun.
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Game 2, vs. Ave Maria - W, 10-7 (7 innings)
The Breakdown
- Junior Brad Miller (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) and Junior Tyler Nelson () would lead Purdue Northwest with two hits and three RBIs each.
- Luke Montgomery (Orland Park, Ill./St. Laurence High School) and Beldon Glasgow also contributed two hits each.
- Junior Sam Ochoa (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) started on the mound for the Pride and pitched 3.1 innings striking out one.
- Shahidi led Ave Maria with two hits and two RBI.
- Schroeder started for Ave Maria and pitched two innings recording one strikeout.
- The Pride would start off hot putting up nine runs through the first three innings with Brad Miller (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) hitting a three-run homer.
- Ave Maria's offense however would not back down as they would put up four runs in the third to make it 9-4.
- The Pride would add one more run in the bottom of the forth from a Glasgow RBI single. Ave Maria would put up three more runs in the fourth and the fifth.
- Senior Joe Buikema (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) would shut down Ave Maria in the seventh inning to secure the 10-7 victory for the Pride.
Up Next
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- The Pride next travel to Warner University to take on Northwestern College (Iowa) on Monday, March 13. Game time is set for 10:00 AM CT.
