NU Tosses One-Hit Shutout, Tops MacMurray, 9-0

3/12/2019 5:50:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern combined to pitch a one-hit shutout en route to a 9-0 win over MacMurray in Wildcats' home opener on Tuesday afternoon at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park.

Rookies Parker Hanks and Tommy D'Alise turned in career days on the mound. Hanks made his first-career start and tossed five-scoreless innings while allowing just one hit in the fourth inning while striking out four. D'Alise entered in the sixth inning and tossed 3.0 scoreless and three strikeouts, retiring all nine batters he faced.

Hanks went 3.2-innings before allowing a hit, the longest no-hit streak to start a contest this season for NU.

Willie Bourbon led the 'Cats offense at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a season-high three RBI, a run scored and a triple.

Charlie Maxwell collected two extra-base hits on the day, going 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, two RBI and two runs scored. David Dunn also had a two-hit day, improving his batting average to .365 and moving up one spot in the Big Ten leaderboard, to fourth place.

The 'Cats took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning after Bourbon led the inning off with a single down the right field line and came around to score via a throwing error from the MacMurray shortstop.

The #B1GCats offense came alive in the later innings as they plated three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and five runs in the top of the eighth. Maxwell led the seventh inning off with a double in the left-center gap and later came around to score via a sacrifice fly from Jack Dunn. With two outs, Bourbon drove in David Dunn and Alex Erro with a triple to the left field fence, the seventh of his career.

The Wildcats did not let up in the next frame as they recorded four-straight hits to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Following a single from Ben Dickey and a double from Jack Anderson, Maxwell cleared the bases with a two-RBI triple to right field. The next at-bat, Leo Kaplan hit another triple to extend the Wildcats' lead to 7-0. David Dunn and Bourbon capped the inning off with RBI-singles of their own as NU tied its season high with five runs scored in the inning.

Northwestern finished the day with three triples, the most in a single-game during the Spencer Allen era. The nine-run lead was NU's biggest winning margin of the season and MacMurray's one hit was the fewest allowed by the Wildcat pitching corps this year.

Senior Danny Katz played the last inning in left field as a defensive replacement.

The Wildcats are back in action this weekend with a two-day, three-game series against Kent State. Friday's action will start at 3 p.m. CT.

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