Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Penn St
Baseball Team Topped by Penn State, 12-6
5/14/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 14, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern fell to Penn State, 12-6, Sunday afternoon at Rocky Miller Park in a game that meant very little to the Wildcats but meant a lot to the Nittany Lions. Northwestern entered the day already secured in the sixth spot for this week's Big Ten Baseball Tournament in Minneapolis, while PSU needed a win to keep hold on the second seed for the tourney.
The loss dropped Northwestern to 30-25 (13-15 Big Ten). The Wildcats will meet Minnesota, the Big Ten Tournament's top seed and host, Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. Penn State improved to 38-14 (18-9 Big Ten) and will play fifth-seeded Ohio State Wednesday at 3:35 p.m.
After the Nittany Lions led off with a run in the first, NU came back with a run in the second. Joe Hietpas (Appleton, Wis./North) led off with a double, then scored two batters later on a passed ball.
Penn State got to Wildcat starter Ryan Bos (Barrington, Ill./Lake Zurich) in the third, touching him up for four runs on a pair of homers. In the fifth, Bos gave up three more runs without recording an out before he was replaced by Jake Briskman (Riverwoods, Ill./Deerfield).
Northwestern made a run in the sixth, scoring three times and loading the bases with none out. But Penn State reliever Mike Watson put out the fire, striking out Todd Morgan (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) and inducing a 3-6-1 double-play groundout from Travis Tharp (Boulder, Colo./Boulder).
Northwestern scored two more runs in the ninth inning, as J.P. Williamson (Oak Park, Ill./River Forest) singled in Kris Musselman (Indian Springs, Ohio/Fairfield) and Hietpas hit a sacrifice fly to score Jeremy Kurella (Dunedin, Fla./Dunedin).
Sunday's game marked the final home contest for eight Wildcat seniors -- Musselman, Williamson, Mike Adams (Mt. Prospect, Ill./Prospect), Jason Anderson (Rockford, Ill./East), Bob Dainton (Mokena, Ill./Lockport), Ben Dodd (Belleville, Ill./West), Dan Padgett (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe) and Pat Thompson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville).
