Northwestern
22-27, 0
Minnesota
15-35, 0
Rally Falls Short as 'Cats Drop Opener
5/20/2022 10:45:00 AM | Baseball
After falling behind 4-1 in the early going, the Wildcats would see Ethan O'Donnell continue his electric sophomore season by crushing a three-run home run to right field to tie things up in the third inning. O'Donnell became the fourth Wildcats of the season to hit at least 10 home runs, joining Jay Beshears, Anthony Calarco and Stephen Hrustich.
The Gophers would pour it on in the middle innings to take a 13-6 lead, but Northwestern refused to go away. First, Ruben Fontes crushed another three-run homer to right field to pull the Wildcats within striking distance. That set the stage for a five-run eighth inning, kick started by an RBI single from Anthony Calarco.
With the bases loaded and Northwestern down by four, Jay Beshears hit a game-tying grand slam to right field to bring Northwestern all the way back on Thursday night. It's the second game-tying or go-ahead grand slam Beshears has hit this season.
Minnesota would score the go-ahead run on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.
Northwestern got some help around the rest of the conference to stay alive in the race for the Big Ten Tournament. The Wildcats are back in action against Minnesota at 6:30pm on Friday night.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Skoro, Tom (1-0)
L: Beshears, Jay (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Beshears, Jay 1 ; Bianchina, Vince 1
HR: Beshears, Jay 1 ; O'Donnell, Ethan 1 ; Fontes, Ruben 2
RBI: Calarco, Anthony 1 ; Beshears, Jay 4 ; O'Donnell, Ethan 3 ; Fontes, Ruben 5 ; Hrustich, Stephen 1
SH: Santini, JC 1
SF: Hrustich, Stephen 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Herrera, Patrick 1 ; Calarco, Anthony 2 ; Beshears, Jay 4 ; O'Donnell, Ethan 2 ; Fontes, Ruben 3 ; Livermore, Tony 1 ; Santini, JC 1
SB: Herrera, Patrick 1
CS: Bianchina, Vince 1
Batting:
2B: Kelly, Jack 2 ; Sweeny, Ronald 1 ; Larson, Jake 1 ; Wilhite, Andrew 1
3B: Wilhite, Andrew 1
HR: Swenson, Riley 1
RBI: Bateman, Brett 2 ; Kelly, Jack 1 ; Swenson, Riley 3 ; Larson, Jake 3 ; Perry, Jake 2 ; Wilhite, Andrew 3
SF: Larson, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Merila, Boston 1 ; Stanke, Chase 1 ; Kelly, Jack 4 ; Swenson, Riley 2 ; Sweeny, Ronald 2 ; Larson, Jake 3 ; Perry, Jake 1 ; Wilhite, Andrew 1
SB: Stanke, Chase 1 ; Sweeny, Ronald 1 ; Larson, Jake 1
CS: Bateman, Brett 2
HBP: Merila, Boston 2 ; Swenson, Riley 1
