Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Massachusetts
Minutemen Down Wildcats 10-7 Sunday Afternoon
3/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 18, 2007
BRADENTON, Fla. - Massachusetts scored six runs in the last two innings to defeat Northwestern 10-7 Sunday afternoon at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. The Wildcats were leading 5-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, but a trio of Wildcat pitchers gave up six runs to drop NU to 0-2 in Florida. Freshman Jake Goebbert and junior Max Mann each tallied a pair of RBI in the loss. Northwestern is next in action at 10 a.m. (ET) against Jacksonville State on Monday morning.
Freshman Jake Goebbert (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) and junior Max Mann (Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood) each singled home runs in the top of the first inning. Goebbert drove home Aaron Newman (Palatine, Ill./Palatine), who reached on a single and quickly stole second. After a groundout put Newman on third and Mule walked, Goebbert lined a fastball to right field. Mann then drove his pitch down the right field line to score Goebbert, but was thrown out at second trying to stretch his single into a double.
UMass responded with four runs in the bottom of the first off Wildcat starter Dan Schwartz (New York, N.Y./Northern Valley Regional). Three singles and a three-run home run did the Minutemen damage.
Both pitchers settled down after the first inning as neither team found the scoring column until the top of the sixth inning.
In the sixth, Northwestern batted around to score three runs. They were aided by a pair of walks and a hit batsman. Mann drove in his second run of the game with a double to the wall in left. Goebbert scored on the hit after being issued a base-on-balls. Freshman catcher Chad Noble (Rockwall, Texas/Rockwall) hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield and second baseman Jake Owens (Stevens Point, Wis./Pacelli) lined a two-out, bases-loaded single to center for the final two runs of the inning.
After five and one-half innings NU led 5-4.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, junior Bo Schultz (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park) took over for Schwartz on the mound. In his fourth start of the season, Schwartz pitched six complete innings, gave up four runs on nine hits and struck out a season-high seven.
Schultz struck out the first hitter he faced, then hit a batter and issued a walk before head coach Paul Stevens called on freshman Matt Diedrich (Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Carmel) to take over. An infield single loaded the bases before a deep two-run sacrifice fly gave the Minutemen a 6-5 lead. With a runner on second and two outs, an errant throw on an attempted steal allowed the runner to score and put them ahead 7-5. A strikeout ended the inning.
After NU went quietly in the top of the eighth inning, Diedrich gave up a single and a sacrifice bunt before Stevens went back to the bullpen. In came senior Andrew Smith (Fort Mitchell, Ky./Beechwood), making his first appearance of the 2007 season. After loading the bases with a pair of walks, a double scored two runs to put Massachusetts ahead, 9-5. An RBI groundout ended the scoring and at the end of eight innings, NU was down 10-5.
Mule doubled home a run and scored on Goebbert's sacrifice fly to plate two runs and end the game 10-7 in favor of Massachusetts.
