HAMMOND, Ind. – The Purdue University Northwest baseball team picked up a pair of one-run victories over Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponent St. Xavier University Tuesday afternoon.
The Pride (20-14, 13-6 CCAC) earned a 5-4 victory in the opening game over the Cougars (21-23, 12-7 CCAC), before picking up a 9-8 win in the nightcap.
Larry Crisler (Gary, Ind./Bishop Noll) led the Pride offensively going 6-for-8 at the plate with 2 RBI and four runs scored.
Jonny Albers (Waterloo, Ind./Waterloo) stayed hot at the plate going 3-for-6 on the day while Austin Kordik (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago) finished the day with a pair of hits, three runs scored and one RBI.
Game 1: PNW 5, SXU 4
After the Cougars took an early 3-0 advantage in the first inning, the Pride answered back with one run in the bottom half to make it 3-1.
PNW would come back to even the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the third inning, thanks to back-to-back RBI-hits by Hunter Thorn (Portage, Ind./Portage) and Cody Moskovsky (St. John, Ind./Bishop Noll).
Kordik would drive in Alec Skalka (Munster, Ind./Munster) in the bottom of the fourth, followed by an RBI-single by Crisler to put the Pride ahead 5-3.
Brody Kutch (La Porte, Ind./La Porte) would enter the game late and pick up his second save of the season, leading the Pride to a 5-4 win.
Matt Sandoval (Highland, Ind./Bishop Noll) earned his seventh win of the season, pitching 5 innings while allowing four runs on 11 hits while striking out three.
Game 2: PNW 9, SXU 8
The Pride kept their bats alive in the second game, taking as big as a 7-run lead, 8-1, in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Cougars would answer back with five runs in the top of the seventh inning to cut its deficit to two, 8-6.
Skalka would connect on his second sacrifice fly of the game, driving in Moskovsky in the bottom of the seventh to put the Pride ahead 9-6.
SXU would get within one, 9-8 in the bottom of the ninth, but Kutch would come in and earn his second save of the day to close things out and cap of the series sweep over the Cougars.
Jimmy Skiff (Dyer, Ind./Andrean) earned his third win on the season, allowing four earned runs in 6.1 innings of work while striking out eight.
Fabian Del Real (Calumet City, Ind./T.F. North) entered the game in relief and threw 0.2 innings while Josh Arnold (Lowell, Ind./Lowell) pitched one shutout inning out of the bullpen.
Brett Shoults (Oxford, Ind./Benton Central) pitched 0.1 innings in the ninth with Kutch throwing 0.2 innings to finish off the game.
PNW returns to action tomorrow, Apr. 19, when they host NCAA Div. II opponent Saint Joseph’s College in one nine-inning game starting at 3 p.m. (CT).