Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Indiana
Postseason Berth Comes Down to Final Game With Indiana
5/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 18, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern's baseball team followed the lead of senior pitcher Gabe Ribas (Brunswick, Maine/Brunswick) and came out in Game Two of Saturday's doubleheader and took charge from the first pitch. Ribas set down nine-straight Hoosiers to start the game, cruising to his fifth win of the season. He allowed just six hits in the game as the right-hander struck out seven and walked none. NU improves to 23-27 overall and 13-15 (.464) in the Big Ten.
With the Game 2 win, NU must beat the Hoosiers tomorrow in the fourth game of the series to qualify for the 2002 Big Ten Tournament. Right now, NU is in seventh, just three hundredths of a point behind the Iowa Hawkeyes (14-16, .467). If NU wins, the Wildcats will move ahead of Sunday's Iowa-Illinois loser.
Illinois (14-14, .500) is in fifth and a Northwestern win coupled with an Illinois loss will give them identical records at 14-15. Since NU won 2-of-3 in Champaign earlier this season, the Wildcats own the tiebreaker. If Iowa loses, they will fall to seventh with a 14-17 mark, putting the Wildcats in sixth at 14-15.
In the game, NU was pitted against the unblemished record (7-0) of Indiana starter Nick Vitielliss, who pitched three innings before giving way to two Hoosier relievers. Vitielliss was charged with the loss, giving up two runs in the third as NU won the game 4-1.
In the third, second baseman Eric Roeder (Onsted, Mich./Onsted) doubled to right field and advanced to third when third baseman Steve Haake (Belleville, Ill./Gibault) hit a one-out grounder to first base. With two outs and Roeder on third, center fielder David Gresky (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Ignatius) hit the first of two doubles to left field, scoring Roeder and putting NU up, 1-0. Right fielder Brandon Ackley (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) hit the very next pitch into the hole between short and third as IU shortstop made a diving stop knocking the ball down and preventing Gresky from scoring. With runners on first and third with two outs, first baseman Travis Tharp (Boulder, Colo./Boulder) slapped a 0-2 single to left field, giving NU a 2-0 lead.
NU added two more in the fifth off Hoosier reliever Matt Rice. Gresky got things started with a two-out double down the right field line and quickly scored when Ackley laced a single to left, putting NU up 3-0. Tharp drove in his second run of the game when he doubled down the right field line, allowing Ackley to score all the way from first on a close play at the plate.
The Hoosiers scored a run in the sixth as second baseman Jay Brandt hit a one out double down the left field line and advanced to third when Kennard Jones' ground ball to short was misplayed, putting runners on first and third with one out. Ribas got a fly out to center for the second out before the Big Ten's leading RBI producer hit a single to left, plating the only Hoosier run of the game.
