A dominant offensive performance and eight-run seventh inning propelled Northwestern to a 15-5 win over St. Thomas on Wednesday afternoon at Rocky and Bernice Miller Park.
The ‘Cats (16-21, 5-13 B1G) earned their second straight win in as many days, carrying over momentum from their victory over Bradley the day before. The Wildcats’ 15 runs tied the second-highest scoring performance from them this season and brought some much-needed confidence to the dugout after a difficult stretch of conference
play.
Sam Hliboki got the start on the mound, giving up seven hits and three runs while striking out two batters in 4.0 innings of work. Tommy Bridges worked the remaining three innings, allowing four hits and two runs while also punching out two.
St. Thomas (7-28, 4-10 Summit) struck first off Hliboki, scoring two runs in the opening inning on a sacrifice fly and an RBI double. However, Northwestern made sure that would be St. Thomas’ only lead of the game, as the Wildcats quickly snatched it in the bottom of the second. Owen McElfatrick stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, and launched an opposite field shot over the right fielder’s head, scoring all three runners. In one swing, a 2-0 deficit became a 3-2 lead.
St. Thomas knotted the score at 3-3 in the top of the fourth, but again the Wildcats immediately responded with a two-run RBI single from Ryan Kucherak. Shortly after, Noah Ruiz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, scoring Jack Lausch from third, and a sacrifice fly from Nick Barron brought home Kucherak. The ‘Cats left the inning up 7-3.
The Wildcats’ lead was cut in half during the top of the seventh, when the Tommies posted a home run and RBI single off Bridges. But what followed was a dominant inning where the ‘Cats exploded for eight runs to secure a walk-off run-rule victory. Lausch’s three-run triple down the right field line opened the floodgates, and Kucherak rewarded him by poking a single that brought Lausch to home plate. The ‘Cats kept their foot on the gas, as Ruiz knocked through a two-run single that brought Jackson Freeman and Kucherak around to score.
The ‘Cats then flexed excellent plate discipline by drawing three straight walks, the final one being a bases-loaded walk to Jake Yang that scored Ruiz and put the game-winning run at third base. Finally, Shane Hofstadler was hit by a pitch, which brought Logan de Groot in from third and sealed the run-rule victory.
NU will return to conference action this weekend, when it travels to face Minnesota. The first game is on Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT.
