Northwestern
7-18
Chicago State
6-17
'Cats Open Rocky and Berenice Miller Park with 11-5 Win
3/30/2016 7:18:00 PM | Baseball
After playing 24 road games to begin the 2016 season, the Wildcats opened the new Rocky and Berenice Miller Park with a bang Wednesday, defeating Chicago State 11-5, behind a grand slam from Jack Claeys and three Zach Jones' RBIs.
Northwestern (7-18, 1-2 B1G) came back from an early 3-0 deficit through an explosive six-run third inning and sealed the deal with four runs coming across the plate in the fifth. The team notched 11 hits to bring its season total of 10-hit games to 12.
Senior Jake Stolley made his first collegiate start for the Wildcats after primarily operating in a relief role during his career. After tossing 2.0 innings, Stolley was replaced by freshman Danny Katz (1-0), who took on the brunt of the game's work throwing a career-high five innings en route to the first victory of his career.
The Wildcats ended the game with a one-two punch of Tyler Lass and Josh Davis, who pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
Chicago State (6-17) took an early 2-0 lead behind some errant fielding in the first inning. After Northwestern struggled to regain the lead in the first two innings, the Cougars added one more in the top of the third to take a 3-0 lead.
The Wildcats responded with a massive six-run third inning. Jack Dunn walked and stole a base to start the inning, before scoring on a Jones single to make it 3-1. Matt Hopfner and Joe Hoscheit loaded the bases with a walk and hit by pitch to set up Claeys in the next at-bat. The #B1GCats catcher stepped up and knocked out a grand slam for his first career home run and the first home run at the new Rocky and Berenice Miller Park.
Willie Bourbon followed suit two batters later with a solo shot of his own for Northwestern's sixth run of the frame. Bourbon finished the game 4-for-4 with two RBIs and just a triple shy of the cycle.
In the fifth inning, Northwestern padded its lead with four more runs. Bourbon's ground-rule double brought home Connor Lind before Grant Peikert scored after an error by the Cougars' first baseman.
Jones batted in his second and third runs of the day with a single to give the 'Cats a 10-3 lead.
Chicago State scored on a two run home run to make it 10-5 in the seventh, but NU added an insurance run in the eighth after Lind tallied an RBI-single. Lind has now reached base in 23-consecutive games.
Chicago's Big Ten Team is back in action this weekend against conference-foe Michigan in a three-game series at the new Rocky and Berenice Miller Park. First pitch for the series opener on Friday is slated for 3 p.m. CT.
The grand opening celebration for the new ballpark will take place on Saturday when the Wildcats and Wolverines battle at 2 p.m. CT.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Katz, Danny (1-0)
L: Arteaga, Noe (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Hunt, Sanford 1 ; Hipchen, Chris 1
HR: Sullivan, Matt 1
RBI: Sullivan, Matt 2 ; Freund, Cody 1 ; Hunt, Sanford 1 ; Hipchen, Chris 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Thomas, Zach 1 ; Sullivan, Matt 2 ; Gertonson, Andy 2
Batting:
2B: Dunn, Jack 1 ; Jones, Zach 1 ; Bourbon, Willie 1
HR: Claeys, Jack 1 ; Bourbon, Willie 1
RBI: Jones, Zach 3 ; Claeys, Jack 4 ; Lind, Connor 1 ; Bourbon, Willie 2 ; Reimer, JR 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dunn, Jack 2 ; Jones, Zach 1 ; Hopfner, Matt 1 ; Mason, Reed 1 ; Claeys, Jack 2 ; Lind, Connor 1 ; Bourbon, Willie 1 ; Peikert, Grant 1 ; Reimer, JR 1
SB: Dunn, Jack 1 ; Peikert, Grant 1
CS: Dunn, Jack 1
HBP: Hoscheit, Joe 1 ; Lind, Connor 1 ; Peikert, Grant 1
