Northwestern
1-1
Long Beach State
1-1
Wildcats Power Past Dirtbags to Even Series
2/16/2025 12:17:00 AM | Baseball
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Trent Liolios recorded his first career multi-homer game and Garrett Shearer and Sam Hliboki combined to allow just two runs on four hits as Northwestern grabbed its first win of 2025 in a 6-2 victory at Long Beach State on Saturday, February 15.
The Wildcats (1-1, 0-0 Big Ten) broke open the scoring in the third inning when Trent Liolios launched NU's first home run of 2025 to deep right field, putting the 'Cats up 1-0. The home run marked the 11th of Liolios' career.'CATS WIN! ?? pic.twitter.com/HDEUwsyiKA
— Northwestern Baseball (@NUCatsBaseball) February 16, 2025
Long Beach State (1-1, 0-0 Big West) responded in the bottom of the fourth to retake the lead on a two-run double by Nathan Cadena.TRENT TANK! ?? pic.twitter.com/CJmDXHQKLp
— Northwestern Baseball (@NUCatsBaseball) February 16, 2025
In the top of the sixth, NU took advantage of Dirtbag miscues to retake the lead. A Jackson Freeman walk, Bennett Markinson hit by pitch, and a wild pitch put a pair of runners in scoring position for Tyler Ganus. Ganus muscled a single into left-center field to score Freeman and Markinson and retake the NU lead for good.
Ryan Kucherak doubled to lead off the top of the ninth, followed by a Jack Lausch bunt single to put runners on the corners. With a homer already on the day, Liolios came through again, homering to right field to provide some insurance and extend the Wildcat lead to 6-2.
Garrett Shearer (1-0) earned the win, tossing a career high six innings on 90 pitches. Shearer surrendered just two earned runs on three hits, a walk, and a hit batsmen, striking out three.TRENT. AGAIN. ????@LioliosTrent's second blast of the day extends the lead! pic.twitter.com/l44rypULLV
— Northwestern Baseball (@NUCatsBaseball) February 16, 2025
In his first appearance in a Wildcat uniform, Sam Hliboki earned the save, the fifth of his career. In three innings of work, Hliboki allowed just one hit, one walk, and one hit batsmen, fanning four and stranding a pair of Dirtbags.
- Northwestern pitching allowed just four hits, its fewest in nine innings since allowing four in an 8-0 win over Milwaukee on April 26, 2022.
- Trent Liolios' four RBI match his career high, previously set at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (March 19, 2024).
- Tyler Ganus stayed hot, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a walk.
- Jack Lausch recorded his first career multi-hit game.
- Ryan Kucherak logged his first career extra-base hit.
Sunday's series finale is set for 1:30 p.m. CT, with both starting pitchers to be announced.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Shearer, Garrett (1-0)
L: Williams, Nick (0-1)
S: Hliboki, Sam (1)
Batting:
2B: Knott, Preston 1 ; Markinson, Bennett 1 ; Kucherak, Ryan 1
HR: Liolios, Trent 2
RBI: Ganus, Tyler 2 ; Liolios, Trent 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Freeman, Jackson 1 ; Markinson, Bennett 1 ; Kucherak, Ryan 1 ; Lausch, Jack 1 ; Liolios, Trent 2
HBP: Markinson, Bennett 1
Batting:
2B: Cadena, Nathan 1
RBI: Cadena, Nathan 2
SH: Champagne, Alex 1 ; Lina, Dylan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ashworth, Kyle 1 ; Briseno, Armando 1
HBP: Cadena, Nathan 1 ; Taylor, Luke 1
