Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Purdue
Wildcats Roll to 13-4 Victory Over Purdue
3/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 28, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -
The weather conditions at Rocky Miller Park were frigid on Saturday, but the Northwestern baseball team's bats were red-hot. The Wildcats posted season-high marks of 13 runs and 15 hits in rolling to a 13-4 win over Purdue.
The win improves NU to 5-17 overall and 1-1 in Big Ten play, while the Boilermakers fall to 10-10 and 1-1.
Jake Goebbert and Chris Lashmet broke out of slow starts to the season by going 4-for-4 and 3-for-4, respectively, for Northwestern.
The 'Cats started the scoring right away in the first inning as Tommy Finn singled and then moved to third base on a stolen base and an ensuing throwing error on the Purdue catcher. After a walk to Goebbert, Chad Noble's sacrifice fly chased home Finn to put NU up 1-0.
The advantage grew to 2-0 in the second as Lashmet went the other way to launch his first home run of the season. A three-run third inning increased the Wildcats' lead to five. Goebbert and Kenneth Avila had RBI singles in the frame, while Tony Vercelli chased home another run with a double off the base of the fence in left.
Meanwhile, Joe Muraski was cruising along on the mound. The southpaw only had one Purdue batter reach base through the first four innings and that came on a Wildcat error in the first.
After Muraski finally allowed a pair of hits in the fifth but ended up stranding both baserunners, Northwestern tacked on two more runs to its lead in the bottom half to go up 7-0. Goebbert started things with a double and came around on a single to center by Noble. Avila plated the Wildcats' seventh run on a fielder's choice groundout.
Purdue finally got on the scoreboard with one run in the sixth, which ended up being the final inning of work for Muraski. The junior scattered five hits while striking out a career-high eight without allowing a walk.
Northwestern put the game out of reach in the bottom of the sixth against reliever Jeff Straub, pushing across five runs to stretch its lead to 12-1. After Straub retired the first batter, six straight NU batters reached base. A two-run double by Goebbert and a two-run single by Lashmet helped make Straub's day a brief one. Pinch-hitter Brant Cavagnaro would chip in with a run-scoring single off Blake Mascarello.
That was plenty of run support for freshman Francis Brooke, who hurled the final three innings to pick up his first collegiate save.
The Wildcats finished with a 15-6 advantage in the hit column. Matt Jansen took the loss for Purdue, surrendering nine hits and seven runs (six earned) in five innings on the bump.
The teams are scheduled to complete their three-game series at 1 p.m. Sunday, weather permitting. Please check NUsports.com for updates in the case that any changes may need to be made.
