Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois
Baseball Loses Conference Opener to Illinois
3/30/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 30, 2001
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Northwestern baseball team opened the 2001 conference season with a 5-2 loss to Illinois at Illinois Field in Champaign. The Illini got off to a quick start plating a single run in the bottom of the first. U of I followed with two runs in each of the fourth and sixth innings, respectively.
Junior Zach Schara (Madison, Wis./West) started on the mound for NU throwing seven complete innings. He gave up five runs (four earned) and struck out one. Christopher Spiering (Schaumburg, Ill./Conant) threw the eighth and final inning giving up one hit and no runs.
Offensively, NU managed just two hits in the first eight innings but in the ninth the Wildcat bats exploded for four hits off Illinois starter Andy Dickinson. Dickinson threw all nine innings surrendering two runs on six hits while striking out six. In the ninth, Steve Haake (Belleville, Ill./Gibault) led off with a double and was driven home by Ken Padgett's (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe) double to left. It was Padgett's fifth RBI of the season. With one out and Padgett on second, senior Joe Hietpas (Appleton, Wis./North) drove a Dickinson pitch to center plating his 12th RBI of the season. Hietpas needs five more RBI to take over third on NU's all-time list. With two outs, Brandon Ackley (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) had the Wildcats last hit before a fly ball ended the contest with Illinois taking the first of a four-game weekend series.
The loss drops NU to 10-14 on the season and 0-1 in the Big Ten. The 'Cats are next in action tomorrow against Illinois with a doubleheader starting at 1:05 p.m.
