April 30, 2005
EVANSTON, IL – The University of Iowa baseball team dropped a pair of games to the Northwestern Wildcats Saturday in Evanston. Northwestern took game one 8-4, then won game two 7-6.
In game one, the Wildcats jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Northwestern led off the inning with three straight hits, then got an RBI groundout and a two-run home run from Max Mann. They stretched the lead to 6-0 in the second with a two-run RBI off the bat of Jon Mikrut.
While the Wildcat bats were rolling, the Hawkeye offense was stagnant and didn’t get its first baserunner until the top of the fourth when Kris Welker singled and came around to score on a fielder’s choice by Dusty Napoleon.
Northwestern came right back in the fifth when Anthony Wycklendt blasted the second two-run shot of the game.
The Hawkeyes attempted a late comeback, with Napoleon picking up his second and third RBIs of the game on a single in the sixth and Skyler Moss bringing home a run on a groundout in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough.
Casey O’Rourke went the distance in the loss for Iowa, giving up 10 hits and striking out two.
In the second game, Iowa jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the third. Nate Price ripped a two-run single, followed by an RBI from Justin Petty and a sacrifice fly by Welker. Northwestern got two back in the bottom of the frame, getting a run-scoring single from Mikrut and a bases loaded walk from Wycklendt.
The Wildcats took a 6-4 lead in the fourth after a two-run triple from Caleb Fields and a two-run homer off the bat of Mikrut.
Iowa fought and clawed back, cutting the lead to 6-5 with a sacrifice fly from Petty in the top of the fifth, then tied the game on an RBI single from Andy Cox in the sixth.
Northwestern re-took the lead in the bottom of the sixth on Fields’ third RBI of the day. Iowa was unable to generate any more offense the rest of the way, and fell 7-6.
Iowa (18-22, 11-8) will look to avoid the series sweep tomorrow with a nine-inning game against Northwestern (21-17, 10-9) starting at 1 p.m.
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME ONEIOWA 000 102 1 -- 4 4 1NU 420 020 x -- 8 10 0WP - George Kontos (4-3)LP - Casey O'Rourke (2-2)
GAME TWOIOWA 004 011 0 -- 6 8 0NU 002 401 x -- 7 8 0WP - Dan Schwartz (3-0)LP - Travis Sweet (1-3)="https://hawkeyesports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>