Northwestern Cruises to 11-4 Win Over Indiana

5/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

May 8, 2010

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Rocky Miller Park)
Score: Northwestern 11, Indiana 4
Records: NU (21-26, 10-7 Big Ten), Indiana (22-22, 8-9 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Sunday, May 9 -- vs. Indiana (Rocky Miler Park), 1 p.m.

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern staked Eric Jokisch to an early lead and the junior left-hander did the rest. The Wildcats scored four times in the first inning and Jokisch hurled a complete game as NU rolled to an 11-4 win over Indiana in the second game of the series between the teams Saturday afternoon at Rocky Miller Park.

"I liked his approach and how he went about his business," Northwestern head coach Paul Stevens said of Jokisch. "The least amount of pitches that he can throw so that I can keep him out there, the better."

The contest proved to be the inverse of Friday's contest that saw the Hoosiers race out to an early advantage. Some shaky defense by Indiana in the opening frame allowed Northwestern to get to IU starter Jonny Hoffman. After Arby Fields led things off by reaching on an error, Chad Noble singled and Paul Snieder walked to load the bases. Chris Lashmet then crushed a double over the head of Hoosier center fielder Brian Lambert to plate two runs.

Zach Morton followed with a groundout to bring home the Wildcats' third run. With two down and Lashmet on third, another miscue in the field on a ball hit by Alex Seyferth made it 4-0.

NU added to its lead in the third as it touched Hoffman for four hits. Three straight hits loaded the bases with no one out, but the Wildcats lined into a double play to provide Hoffman with a chance to get out of the inning unscathed. But Chris Kontos drew a walk before Geoff Rowan brought in a pair with a single to left to make it 6-0.

No Northwestern batter has been hotter than Snieder lately and he continued to slug the ball with authority in the fourth. Following a leadoff single by Noble, Snieder clubbed his fourth home run in as many games and sixth of the season. Seyferth would later contribute an RBI single to center to extend the hosts' advantage to nine.

Meanwhile, Jokisch was mowing his way through Indiana's high-powered offense. The southpaw didn't face more than four batters in an inning through the first five frames, displaying the ability to get Hoosier batters to hit the ball on the ground and let his defense do the work behind him.

The Hoosiers defense continued to struggle in the bottom of the fifth as their fourth error of the game allowed Fields to get on base to open the inning. A double by Noble put two in scoring position for Snieder who drove in his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly to center.

Jokisch finally displayed a chink in his armor in the sixth as Indiana was finally able to get on the board with a two-out rally. After retiring the first two batters, Jokisch allowed a walk and then a two-run homer to Alex Dickerson, the Big Ten's top slugger. Indiana would then draw another walk that eventually would come around to score on a wild pitch to make it 10-3.

Northwestern would tack on one final run in the seventh on Morton's RBI single to center before Indiana got one in the ninth on a solo homer by Tyler Rogers.

Jokisch (4-5) scattered eight hits in the contest and struck out seven while walking three in the complete-game effort. The top five hitters in the NU lineup did the majority of the damage as they combined for 12 hits and scored all 11 of the team's runs. Lashmet led the way with four hits, while Noble and Morton added three apiece.

The Wildcats and the Hoosiers wrap up their series at 1 p.m. Sunday at Rocky Miller Park.

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