HAMMOND, Ind. – The Purdue University Northwest baseball team used some late game heroics to defeat Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponent Trinity Christian, 7-6, in 11 innings Friday afternoon.
The Pride were led by Jake Lindeman (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) and Hunter Thorn (Portage, Ind./Portage) who each recorded two hits apiece, while Larry Crisler (Gary, Ind./Bishop Noll) ripped a clutch 3-RBI double to jump start the bats for the Pride in the seventh inning.
After trailing 6-0 heading in to the bottom of the seventh, the double by Crisler followed by an RBI-single from Lindeman cut the Pride’s deficit to two, 6-4.
PNW kept the bats alive in the bottom of the eighth, thanks to an RBI groundout from Jonny Albers (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) which scored Alex Batistatos (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) to put the Pride within one, 6-5.
Avondre Harris (Mishawka, Ind./Mishawaka) would come up with a clutch pinch-hit RBI-single to tie the game in the eighth inning that plated Matt Sandoval (Highland, Ind./Bishop Noll) who pinch ran for Moskovsky.
After a pair of scoreless innings by both teams, the Pride would come up in the bottom of the 11th looking to end the game.
With two outs in the bottom of the frame, Lindeman and Thorn each singled to keep the inning alive.
Batistatos would get hit by a pitch after the Thorn single, setting up a walk-off-walk with the bases loaded by Moskovsky which gave the Pride the 7-6 victory.
Jimmy Skiff (Dyer, Ind./Andrean) got the no decision for the Pride, allowing five runs, one earned, and striking out four through five innings of work.
Zac Hernandez (Hebron, Ind./Hebron) came in relief and allowed one run on three hits in 2.1 innings of work, while Deven Smith (Royal Center, Ind./Pioneer) pitched 0.2 innings without allowing a run.
Brody Kutch (La Porte, Ind./La Porte) earned his first win for the Pride, after shutting out the Trolls through three innings of work, allowing just one hit and striking out two.
The Pride return to action tomorrow afternoon, when the Black and Gold travel to Palos Heights for a doubleheader with the Trolls starting at 1 p.m. (CT).