Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
2-3
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Kansas
3-2
'Cats Even Series with Kansas, Explode for 18 Runs
2/24/2018 7:31:00 PM | Baseball
Junior Willie Bourbon continued his monster start to the season and came up a single short of the cycle. The junior went 3-for-6, batting cleanup with five RBI on a double, a triple, and his second home run of the season.
Senior Connor Lind showed off his own power on the afternoon, and posted two doubles for three RBI while scoring three runs.
David Dunn continued the scorching start to his Wildcat career with a 3-5 day including a triple and a walk.
Alex Erro, Leo Kaplan and Kyle Burnett, Jr. all had two base hits as well, while Erro stole two bases to bring his season total to six in five games.
Senior Jack Claeys batted in two runs of his own as did Kaplan. Leadoff hitter Ben Dickey reached base three time with a hit, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch.
First year Ryan Bader earned the win for Northwestern, throwing two innings of relief. Josh Levy threw 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to keep the Jayhawks at bay in the closing innings.
The Wildcats move to 2-3 on the season, while the Jayhawks fall to 3-2.
Bourbon started the fireworks in the second inning with an opposite field solo shot to left center to make it 1-0. Kaplan brought home David Dunn with a single up the middle and then scored himself to give the 'Cats an early 3-0 lead.
Kansas responded with one run, but Northwestern blew the game open in the top of the third. Three straight doubles from Erro, Bourbon and Lind plated two runs. Kaplan picked up his second RBI later to score Lind, and Burnett laced a single through the right side to bring Kaplan around and the lead to a commanding 7-1.
The 'Cats had runners on second and third in the fourth before a Claeys' sacrifice fly allowed Erro to tag up. Then D. Dunn battered the ball into right field for a triple to give NU a nine run lead.
Kansas cut the deficit to five runs, but Bourbon kept the hosts at bay in the fifth with a rocket to right field that cleared Dunn and Burnett off the bases to make it 11-4.
The offense erupted for four more runs in the seventh. Erro slapped in a run with a single, before back-to-back doubles from the heart of the lineup in Lind and Claeys brought in three runs combined to make it 15-6, the largest lead of the game.
Northwestern's bats finally settled down after the eighth inning, when they tacked on three more runs to put the game out of reach. Ben Dickey doubled down the left field line and stole third before Jack Dunn scored him with a single. Alex Erro reached with an error that moved Dunn to third, and the shortstop scored on the same play on a throwing error by the Jayhawk center fielder. Bourbon collected his fifth and final RBI with a groundout to score Erro and make it 18-12.
Levy forced two fly-outs in the eighth and a foul out, strikeout and one last fly-out to seal the deal.
Chicago's Big Ten Team will play in the rubber match tomorrow for series against Kansas. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bader, Ryan (1-1)
L: Taylor Turski (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Dickey, Ben 1 ; Erro, Alex 1 ; Bourbon, Willie 1 ; Lind, Connor 2 ; Claeys, Jack 1 ; Burnett, Jr., Kyle 1
3B: Bourbon, Willie 1 ; Dunn, David 1
HR: Bourbon, Willie 1
RBI: Dunn, Jack 1 ; Erro, Alex 1 ; Bourbon, Willie 5 ; Lind, Connor 3 ; Claeys, Jack 2 ; Dunn, David 1 ; Kaplan, Leo 2 ; Burnett, Jr., Kyle 1
SF: Claeys, Jack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dickey, Ben 1 ; Dunn, Jack 3 ; Erro, Alex 4 ; Bourbon, Willie 2 ; Lind, Connor 3 ; Claeys, Jack 1 ; Dunn, David 1 ; Kaplan, Leo 1 ; Burnett, Jr., Kyle 2
SB: Dickey, Ben 1 ; Dunn, Jack 2 ; Erro, Alex 2 ; Kaplan, Leo 1
HBP: Dickey, Ben 1 ; Burnett, Jr., Kyle 1
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Batting:
2B: James Cosentino 1 ; Jaxx Groshans 1 ; Brendt Citta 1 ; Devin Foyle 2 ; David Kyriacou 2
3B: Owen Taylor 1
RBI: Jaxx Groshans 1 ; Brendt Citta 1 ; Mateo Zunica 1 ; Devin Foyle 2 ; Blaine Ray 1 ; David Kyriacou 1 ; Owen Taylor 4 ; Tanner Gragg 1
SF: Blaine Ray 1 ; Tanner Gragg 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Skyler Messinger 1 ; James Cosentino 2 ; Blake Shinkle 1 ; Jaxx Groshans 1 ; Brendt Citta 1 ; Devin Foyle 3 ; David Kyriacou 2 ; Owen Taylor 1
SB: Skyler Messinger 1
CS: Brendt Citta 1
HBP: Blake Shinkle 1 ; Mateo Zunica 1
