Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Valparaiso
Crusaders Cruise to 10-1 Win Tuesday Afternoon
4/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 17, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern's baseball team dropped its first mid-week game of the season 10-1 to Valparaiso Tuesday afternoon at Rocky Miller Park. The Crusaders scored one run in the first, one in the fourth, four in the fifth and four more in the seventh to hand NU its 21st loss of the season. The Wildcats managed just three hits in the game and did not score until the bottom of the ninth inning. NU is back in action this weekend when they travel to State College, Pa., to take on Penn State in a four-game Big Ten series. Game one is set for 5:35 p.m. (CT) Friday night.
After Valpo scored one run off Wildcat starter Andrew Smith (Fort Mitchell, Ky./Beechwood) in the top of the first inning, the offense got off to a rocky start.
Things started out well when third baseman Jake Owens (Stevens Point, Wis./Pacelli) led of the game with a double and right fielder Antonio Mule (Lodi, N.J./Lodi) singled. First baseman Jake Goebbert (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. When it looked like there was no way NU could not score, a groundball forced the first out out at home and a groundball double play ended the inning with zero runs scoring.
Everything went downhill from there.
NU used six pitchers in the game, which was part of the pre-game plan, but the first four combined to give up all 10 Valparaiso runs on 12 hits.
Sophomore Matt Havey (Wilmette, Ill./Loyola) and junior Bo Schultz (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park) pitched the final two and two-third innings without giving up a run.
In the bottom of the ninth, Valpo also using there sixth pitcher of the game, a leadoff walk to Mike Kalina (Munster, Ind./Munster) came around to score on sophomore Tony Vercelli's (Wilmington, Ind./Wilmington) two-out double to the left centerfield wall. It was Northwestern's first hit since Mule's single in the first inning. A weak groundball to first ended the game.
