Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Kansas State
Late Homers Lift Kansas State Past Northwestern, 4-3
3/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 24, 2009
MANHATTAN, Kan. -
Northwestern held a late two-run lead, but a game-tying home run in the eighth and a walk-off shot to open the ninth gave host Kansas State a come-from-behind 4-3 victory in the opening contest of a two-game series Tuesday night.
Following four scoreless frames, NU (4-15) jumped in front with three runs in the top of the fifth with a pair of errors helping the Wildcats' cause. Hamilton Wise started the inning with a single and he moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kenneth Avila. An error on the next play gave Northwestern runners at first and second with one away. Jake Goebbert then got NU one board by notching a single to right. Two batters later, an error by the KSU third baseman on a ball hit by Chris Lashmet brought two around to score to give Northwestern a 3-0 advantage.
Meanwhile, freshman right-hander Zach Morton silenced the Kansas State bats through the first four frames, facing just one over the minimum. The hosts loaded the bases with no one out in the fifth, but Morton was able to limit the damage, surrendering just one run.
David Jensen came on in relief for Northwestern to start the sixth and he allowed just one walk through his first two innings on the mound. But a one-out, two-run homer by Carter Jurica got Kansas State back to even.
NU got a two-out single from Avila in the top of the ninth but was unable to score before Drew Biery opened the bottom half of the frame with a round-tripper to give KSU the win in the opening game of the series.
Tommy Finn had two hits for Northwestern which had a 7-6 edge in the hit column. Thomas Rooke pitched one inning of relief for Kansas State (19-5) to earn the win. Morton settled for a no-decision despite allowing just three hits and one run while striking out three in five innings of work.
The teams conclude their series with a contest beginning at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
