Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois
Wildcats Sweep Saturday Doubleheader, Winning Game Two 4-1
4/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 26, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Illinois Box Score in PDF Format
Northwestern swept a doubleheader from Illinois Saturday afternoon, following two strong pitching performances by underclassmen. Sophomore J.A. Happ (Peru, Ill./St. Bede Academy) won the first game 7-3, and was followed by a one-hit 4-1 win in the second game by freshman Dan Brauer (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton-Warrenville South). NU has won the first three of a four-game conference series over the Illini, going for the sweep tomorrow at 1 p.m.
In the game, Northwestern (17-16, 9-8 Big Ten) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after two innings as designated hitter Stanley Finch (Lubbock, Texas/Cooper) and left-fielder Dan Pohlman each recorded an RBI in the second inning. David Gresky (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Ignatius), who reached on a walk, and Travis Tharp (Boulder, Colo./Boulder) each crossed the plate in the inning.
Illinois (20-18, 8-11) plated one run in the next half inning, as Brauer walked the leadoff hitter, who eventually came around to score on a sacrifice fly.
Northwestern went ahead 3-1, scoring an unearned run in the third as freshman Mark Ori (Niles, Ill./Maine South) crossed the plate on Tharp's single to center. Ori singled, moved to second on an Illini error before being driven in by Tharp.
Tharp added another run in the bottom of the sixth, tattooing his third home run of the season over the right-field fence. Tharp finished the game 3-for-3 with two RBI.
Making his fourth start of the season on the mound, Brauer was in command the entire game. Even though he walked four Illinois hitters, the left-hander allowed just one hit throwing his first collegiate complete game. The Illinois native lowered his ERA to 2.80 and has struck out 35 hitters in 35.1 innings of work.
The game lasted just 1 hour 41 minutes.
