Northwestern's Ninth-Inning Dramatics Fall Short

3/26/2017 4:18:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Highl Highlights

EVANSTON, Ill. — Trailing 10-4 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Northwestern rallied for five runs and had the game-tying run on second base with two outs but failed to complete the comeback and fell, 10-9, in the series finale against Indiana.

Northwestern (5-17, 0-3 B1G) posted a season-high 17 hits in the effort and was led by Mat Hopfner, Alex Erro and Connor Lind, who each tallied three hits. Willie Bourbon dove in a team-high three runs, which included his solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Indiana (13-8-1, 3-0 B1G) turned to Matt Lloyd and Logan Sowers at the plate Sunday. Lloyd was 4-for5 win an RBI, while Sowers collected four hits and drove in a game-high five runs. Pauly Milto pitched 6.1 scoreless innings to get the win, while Lloyd picke dup the save.

Five Northwestern pitchers saw action on Sunday. Sophomore Danny Katz matched a career-high with four strikeouts.

Indiana struck first scoring a pair of runs in the top of the first inning, but the Wildcats responded in the bottom half of the frame.

After Hopfner reached base on a walk, Northwestern tallied three consecutive singles from Erro, Hoscheit and Lind to tie the game at 2-2. Jack Dunn put the Wildcats in front two batters later with an RBI sacrifice fly to right field. Hoscheit and Lind recorded RBIs on their hits.

The Hoosiers brought the score even at 3-3 in the top of the second, before plating four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 7-3 lead. Northwestern's bullpen settled down as Sam Lawrence threw back-to-back scoreless innings and Danny Katz struck out four of the 10 batters he faced.

Indiana built its lead to 10-3 in the top of the eighth inning by scoring three runs. Bourbon began the Northwestern rally in the bottom of the eighth when he ripped a solo shot over the right field fence to make it a 10-4 game.

Following a scoreless top of the ninth by Indiana, Hopfner began the ninth inning with a double to right field. Erro singled up the middle in the next at bat to score Hopfner from second and make it a 10-5 contest. Senior Jake Schieber notched his first hit of the game with runners on the corners to score Erro and cut into IU's lead, 10-6.

The Hoosiers made a pitching change, bringing in designated hitter Lloyd to the mound. Freshman Leo Kaplan loaded the bases with a single for Bourbon, who took a pitch back through the middle to score a pair of Wildcats and make it a two-run game, 10-8, with one away. A wild pitch scored Kaplan from third in the following at bat, but that is as close at Northwestern would come to tying the game.

Senior Matt Hopfner beat out an infield single in the bottom of the seventh to collect the 200^th hit of his career. Zach Jones was the last Northwestern player to reach the plateau as he did so on May 7, 2016.

The Wildcats host Chicago State on Wednesday, March 29 at Miller Park. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m. CT.

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Congrats to @hopscotch1623 on recording his 200th career hit. #B1GCats | #SaddleUp pic.twitter.com/VuI0hHLkeC
— #B1GCats Baseball (@NUCatsBaseball) March 26, 2017