Purdue Northwest Baseball Drops Series Finale with Tiffin, 5-4

Purdue Northwest Baseball Drops Series Finale with Tiffin, 5-4

Tiffin, Ohio – Leaving the game-tying run stranded at third base in the top of the ninth, the Purdue Northwest baseball team dropped the final game of its Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) series with Tiffin University (Ohio) by a score of 5-4 Sunday afternoon at Heminger Field in Tiffin, Ohio.  The Pride finished the game with 10 hits, but gave up 16 hits to the host Dragons.

Tiffin got the scoring started in the bottom of the second inning using a pair of RBI singles and an error to plate three runs and take an early 3-0 lead.  In the top of the fourth, junior Evan Finke (Columbus, Ind./Snead State CC/Columbus North) drove in PNW’s first run of the day on a RBI single to centerfield to make it, 3-1.  Freshmen John Cory (Lowell, Ind./Lowell Senior) and Kevin McCune (Munster, Ind./Andrean) both hit RBI singles up the middle in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 3-3.  Finke, McCune and junior Austin Kordik (West Chicago, Ill./College of DuPage/Community) each finished with two hits for Purdue Northwest.

However, a pair of RBI doubles in the bottom of the fifth gave the Dragons back the lead, 5-3.  Senior Jonny Albers (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) drew the Pride to within a run, 5-4, in the top of the eighth with a RBI single to left field.  Purdue Northwest had a chance to tie the game in the top of the ninth with a runner at third base and two outs, but Tiffin ended the game with a pop-out in foul territory. 

Junior Kyle Flessner (Thomasboro, Ill./Kankakee CC/Rantoul Township) suffered the loss (1-4) as the starter Sunday pitching the first 4.2 innings and allowing nine hits, four runs (two earned) and two walks with three strikeouts.  Junior Brendan Kelly (Grandville, Mich./Muskegon JC/Grandville) threw the final 3.1 frames and gave up seven hits, one run (earned) and a walk with three strikeouts.

Purdue Northwest (18-21 overall/8-15 GLIAC) returns home and hosts its final conference series of the season next weekend.  The first of the four-game series against Davenport University (Mich.) is scheduled for a 3 p.m. CT start on Friday, May 4, at Albert’s Diamond Jewelers Field at Dowling Park in Hammond, Ind.