Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Virginia Commonwealth
Wildcats Drop Heartbreaker 4-3 to Virginia Commonwealth
2/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 17, 2006
RICHMOND, Va. - Northwestern dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker to Virginia Commonwealth in the bottom of the ninth inning. The loss dropped the Wildcats to 1-3 on the season. A two-out error and a double allowed the winning run to cross the plate. Offensively, Antonio Mule hit his second home run of the season and Stanley Finch had two hits in the game.
In a game where hits and runs were hard to come by, designated hitter Antonio Mule (Lodi, N.J./Lodi) continued to swing a hot bat. The New Jersey native tattooed a solo home run over the right centerfield wall in the top of the second inning.
VCU answered with a single run in the bottom half of the inning. A leadoff walk came around to score on a sacrifice fly to centerfield. The base-on-balls moved to second on an infield single and advanced to third on a passed ball. The run was unearned.
The Rams took the lead in the bottom of the third inning as a solo home run made the score 2-1 after three complete innings.
Centerfielder Aaron Newman (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) tied the game at two apiece with his first triple of the season. Second baseman Jake Owens (Stevens Point, Wis./Pacelli) led off the inning with a single to center and moved to second on a slow grounder to third. Newman then lined the ball down the right field line to score Owens from second. Freshman Tommy Finn (Valparaiso, Ind./Andrean) grounded out to shortstop, plating Newman from third and giving NU a 3-2 lead. A strikeout ended the inning.
Kontos cruised until the bottom of the seventh when Newman made an unbelievable run-saving, full-extension diving catch in left centerfield. With a runner on second and one out, the VCU shortstop laced a Kontos pitch to deep left centerfield, Newman ran down the ball, saving NU's 3-2 lead.
Junior Dan Schwartz (New York, N.Y./Northern Valley Regional) came on relief of Kontos to start the eighth inning and promptly gave up the tying run. The run was unearned as the base runner reached on an error.
Kontos pitched seven complete innings, gave up two runs (one earned) and struck out four. In two starts this season (12 innings), Kontos has a 3.00 ERA and 10 strikeouts.
With two outs in the ninth, a two-out error allowed the winning run to reach base. After the base runner stole second, a fly ball fell between a racing Owens from second and a charging Max Mann (Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood) from right field. The runner scored without a throw.
The Rams and Wildcats play the second of a two-game series tomorrow at 1 p.m. (ET).
