Box Score at Northwestern 5, Bradley 1
EVANSTON, IL - Northwestern used nine pitchers to keep Bradley's hitter off balance and the Wildcats (9-24) got all of the offense they needed in the second inning on the way to a 5-1 win against the visiting Braves (15-11) Wednesday afternoon at Rocky & Berenice Miller Park.
The nine Northwestern hurlers limited Bradley to six hits and stranded nine Braves Northwestern took the early lead by opening the home half of the second with three consecutive base hits. After Connor Lind started the inning with a single to center field, Jack Claeys was robbed of a RBI when his drive to left center field bounced over the wall for a ground run double, but Willie Bourbon followed with a run-scoring single to left field for a 1-0 lead.
Bradley had a chance to escape the inning without any further damage after Olson struck out Jake Schieber and induced a ground ball to shortstop from Ben Dickey. Second baseman D.J. Gasso dropped the ball at second base in the transition to throw to first for a double play, allowing Claeys to score for a 2-0 lead.
Facing a new pitcher to start each inning, the Braves struggled to string hits together, but appeared to be in position to break through in the sixth after 3B Spencer Gaa led off with a double and SS Tyler Leffler followed with his second hit-by-pitch of the game. First baseman Paul Solka sacrificed the runners to second and third with one out, but C Ian Kristan and CF Andy Shadid both went down swinging to end the threat.
The Braves had an opportunity to make a couple of tough plays defensively in the sixth inning, but the inability to come up with either play ended up costing them three runs. After Leffler's throw from deep in the hole at short skipped past Solka at first base, the Wildcats were in business with runners at second and third with one out. Reliever Nathan Stong got a big strikeout for the second out of the inning, but Jake Schieber followed by lifting a high fly ball to the base of the fence in left field. The ball tipped off the glove of sprinting LF Evan Gruener for a 2-run triple and Ben Dickey tacked on a RBI single for a 5-0 lead.
Bradley threatened again in the eighth inning by loading the bases with two outs on singles from DH Luke Mangieri and Leffler and a hit-by-pitch to Kristan. The Braves got their first run when the eighth Northwestern pitcher, Pete Hofman, bounced a wild pitch to the backstop. Shadid scorched the next pitch into the right centerfield gap, but CF Dickey chased it down to end the inning.
The Braves made one more run at the Wildcats in the ninth by taking advantage of a Northwestern miscue. With one out, Jean-Francois Garon struck out on a pitch in the dirt, but the throw to first for the putout sailed wide. D.J. Gasso followed with a walk to get the Braves back to the top of the order with two on and one out, but Mangieri hit into the first double play of his career to end the game.
NOTES: Bradley freshman CF Andy Shadid began the week ranked 18th nationally by averaging 0.48 doubles per game and improved upon that number by lacing a 1-out double inside the bag at third base in the second inning ... Bradley SS Tyler Leffler started his 134th consecutive game to take over sole possession of third place on the school's all-time list for consecutive starts ... Leffler also was twice hit by a pitces, the 48th and 49th HBPs of his career, moving him to within nine of the school record 57 by Matt Fritz from 2008-10 ... For the third time this season and the fourth time overall, twin brothers Brent and Nathan Stong both pitched in the same game for the Braves ... For the first time, however, lefty Brent relieved righty Nathan to start the seventh inning.
