Northwestern Falls 7-3 Despite Bramschreiber's Gem

4/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

April 9, 2011

Box Score | Photo Gallery

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Rocky Miller Park)
Score: Penn State 7, Northwestern 3
Records: NU (8-19, 1-4 Big Ten), Penn State (19-9, 4-1 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Sunday, April 10 - vs. Penn State (Rocky Miller Park), 1 p.m.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Freshman Ethan Bramschreiber allowed just one hit while striking out six over 4 2/3 innings of relief, but Northwestern was undone by six errors in dropping the second game of a doubleheader to Penn State 7-3 Saturday afternoon.

The Nittany Lions won the first game by a score of 12-0.

Freshman southpaw Dan Tyson got the start on the mound for the Wildcats and was the victim of some bad luck in the top of the first inning. After opening with a strikeout, consecutive miscues by NU gave the Nittany Lions two men aboard. An RBI single by Joey DeBernardis and a sacrifice fly by Mario Eramo made it 2-0.

Northwestern took advantage of a Penn State error in the bottom half of the frame to get a run back. What appeared to be an inning-ending double play turned into an RBI for Jack Havey as Trevor Stevens scored from third.

The Nittany Lions broke the game open in the third as DeBernardis had a run-scoring single, Eramo hit a two-run homer and Ryan Clark hit a solo shot to make it 6-1.

Bramschreiber entered in relief of Tyson to being the fourth and was stellar. Of the first 11 batters he faced, the right-hander retired 10 of them with six strikeouts, allowing just a two-out walk in the fifth.

NU made it 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth after Chris Kontos led off the frame with a double and later scored on an RBI groundout by Geoff Rowan.

Penn State increased its cushion back to five in the seventh with two errors coming back to haunt the Wildcats again. However, Northwestern got the run right back in the home half as Stevens tripled with one out and scored on an RBI double by Paul Snieder.

With a thick, blinding fog rolling in off Lake Michigan, the Wildcats made one final charge in the bottom of the ninth. With one away, Nick Linne drew a walk before Stevens singled for his fourth hit of the game. Following the second out being recorded, Lashmet walked to bring the tying run to the plate. Penn State then brought on closer Ryan Ignas to face pinch hitter Colby Everett. The sophomore ripped a shot that caromed off DeBernardis, the first baseman, and right to second baseman Elliot Searer who flipped to Ignas at first for the final out.

The Wildcats finished with a 10-7 advantage in the hit column behind four by Stevens.

The teams conclude their three-game series at 1 p.m. Sunday.

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