Purdue University Northwest Sports Update, April 27, 2017

PNW-Baseball-Splits-with-JudsonPNW Baseball Splits with Judson The Purdue University Northwest baseball team split Wednesday’s Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with Judson University.

The Pride (26-16, 17-7 CCAC) dropped the opening game to the Eagles (35-15, 19-5 CCAC) before bouncing back to win 5-2 in the nightcap.

GAME 1: Judson 3, PNW 2 Judson would score two runs in the bottom of the second, before taking a 3-0 advantage in the bottom of the fourth.

The Black and Gold would answer back in the top of the fifth inning, after a groundout by Hunter Thorn (Portage, Ind./Portage) scored Mike Mikulich (Hebron, Ind./Hebron).

Tyler Crussen (Wheeler, Ind./Wheeler) would score later in the inning on a single from Jake Lindeman (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) to make it 3-2.

Judson would hold the Pride scoreless for the rest of the game, stealing the opening game 3-2.

Jimmy Skiff (Dyer, Ind./Andrean) pitched a complete game for the Pride, throwing 6 innings while striking out four.

GAME 2: PNW 5, Judson 2 PNW would strike first in the top of the third inning, after a groundout from Luke Schmidt (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake South) plated Jono Bigger (Roselawn, Ind./North Newton) who pinch ran for Jonny Albers (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) after a leadoff single.

After Judson evened the score at one run each in the bottom of the fourth, the Pride would answer back with one run in the fifth and sixth innings to take a 3-1 lead.

Judson would plate one last run in the bottom of the seventh, but a two-run RBI from Albers gave the Pride a three run lead.

The bullpen for the Pride would shutdown the Eagles for the rest of the game to finish off the split, 5-2.

Fabian Del Real (Calumet City, Ill./T.F. North) picked up his fourth win of the season after throwing five innings and allowing just one run on five hits with five strikeouts.

Matt Sandoval (Highland, Ind./Bishop Noll) would enter the game in relief and throw two innings with two strikeouts while Brody Kutch (La Porte, Ind./La Porte) earned his fifth save of the year throwing two scoreless frames.

PNW returns to action Saturday, April 30, when they host St. Francis (Ill.) in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. (CT).

Purdue Northwest Sweeps Trinity Christian, 6-1 & 3-0 The Purdue University Northwest softball team swept its second-straight conference opponent with 6-1 and 3-0 victories over host Trinity Christian College Wednesday.

The Pride improved to 25-21 overall and 14-9 in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference with the two wins after PNW swept Roosevelt in a pair on Tuesday.

PNW returns to action Friday with a nonleague twin bill against West Virginia Tech at Dowling Park’s Fifth Third Bank Field. Game 1 is set to start at 2 p.m. CT.

GAME 1: PNW 6, TCC 1 Taylor Kotzo (Munster, Ind./Munster) and Kyleigh Payne (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara) both went 2-for-4 with two RBI each and teammate Tessa Steffens (Litchfield, Ill./Litchfield) went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead Purdue Northwest’s batters in the opening win.

Senior Audrey Headley (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) picked up her second-straight win in the circle, scattering eight hits, striking out one and allowing just one earned run in the complete-game outing to improve to 4-4 on the year.

PNW opened the game with a run in the first inning when Payne doubled to left field with two outs. That set up Steffens for an RBI hit down the right-field line to give the Pride an early 1-0 lead. PNW would add another score in the second on Taylor Kotzo RBI-single to score Olivia Sardella (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central, who walked.

PNW’s biggest inning came in the fourth when the Pride exploded for three runs – two on a Payne single up the middle and another on a Kotzo single. The Pride would add their final run in the sixth on a Haley Loden (Crown Point, Ind./Lake Central) single.

GAME 2: PNW 3, TCC 0 Senior Caroline Brown (Minooka, Ill./Minooka) tossed yet another shutout to pick up her 13th win of the year and scattered five hits in a complete game outing to lead the Pride the two-game sweep.

PNW again too an early lead in the first inning, which started with a Kotzo double to left field. She would later score on a Tessa Steffens RBI single to make it 1-0 PNW. The Pride added another run in the fourth on a Hannah Lopez (Granada Hills, Calif./Bishop Alemany) RBI single.

Tessa Steffens’ RBI fielder’s choice in the seventh would complete PNW’s scoring and was more than enough for Brown, who captured her fourth shutout of the season.

Kotzo finished 2-for-4, senior Samantha Oppenhuis (Munster, Ind./Illiana Christian) went 2-for-3 , and Steffens was 1-for-4 with two RBI to lead PNW’s hitters.

Sardella Walk-Off' Strong Pitching Lifts Softball The Purdue University Northwest softball team earned a two-game sweep over Roosevelt University in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader Tuesday afternoon.

The Pride (24-21-1, 13-9 CCAC) used a walk-off single from Olivia Sardella (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central) in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Pride a 1-0 victory over the Lakers (11-25, 4-18 CCAC), before shutting out the Lakers, 4-0, in the nightcap.

Game 1: PNW 1, Roosevelt 0 After both teams were held scoreless for the majority of the game, the Pride started off the seventh inning with a Tessa Steffens (Litchfield, Ill./Litchfield) single to shortstop to give the Pride some momentum.

Audrey Headley (Lafayette, Ind./McCutcheon) would lay down a sacrifice bunt to move Steffens to second base, which set up Olivia Sardella to knock in the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and give the Pride the victory.

Headley had a great game in the circle, throwing a complete game shutout with four strikeouts and allowing just five hits.

Game 2: PNW 4, Roosevelt 0 Steffens would stay hot at the plate, ripping a double to left field which scored Kyleigh Payne (Bourbonnais, Ill./ Bishop McNamara) to put the Pride ahead 1-0 in the third.

Sardella would keep the inning alive with an RBI-single to right field which plated Steffens and give the Black and Gold a 2-0 advantage.

Steffens would drive in Alex Morales (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) in the fourth and sixth innings, helping secure a 4-0 victory for the Pride.

Caroline Brown (Minooka, Ill./Minooka Community) earned her 12th win of the season in the circle, throwing a complete game shutout while striking out two.

The Black and Gold will return to action tomorrow, April 26, when they travel to CCAC opponent Trinity Christian for a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. (CT).

Purdue Northwest Upsets St. Francis, 5-4 in CCAC Quarters The Purdue University Northwest men’s tennis team avenged a loss earlier in this season against St. Francis (Ill.) as the Pride defeated the Fighting Saints in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Quarterfinals Tuesday.

The two teams met up on April 15 with USF coming out on top and edging out the Pride, 5-4, but today PNW got the upper hand as the No. 5 seed Pride (11-6) defeated the No. 4 seed Fighting Saints (5-13), 5-4, at Challenge Fitness in Lockport, Ill. in the CCAC Quarterfinals.

It also marked the first-ever victory against the Fighting Saints in program history.

PNW returns to action Friday, April 28 as the Pride travel to Milwaukee, Wis. for the CCAC Semifinals to take on top seeded and the No. 10 team in the country Cardinal Stritch with match time to be announced.

PNW won the first two out of three matches at doubles competition after getting swept last time the two teams met. Ulf Grosseloh (Maximiliansau, Germany) and Moritz Gisy (Dusseldorf, Germany) won at No. 1 doubles over USF’s duo of Miguel Rayos Del Sol and Michael Hasler, 8-6. Jonluke Passett (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandberg) and Diego Pimentel (Guayaquil, Ecuador) picked up the victory against USF’s Anders Sandberg and Lucas Randall, 8-6.

Later in the match, Grosseloh dominated at No. 1 singles, winning every game in both sets, 6-0, 6-0, against USF’s Rayos Del Sol. Pimentel did not look back at No. 4 singles, as he also won his match in straight sets against USF’s Kohler, 6-0, 6-0.

John Mamelson (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) picked up the victory easily in straight sets at No. 6 singles against USF’s Fritz Ticala, 6-0, 6-1.

Gisy fought hard at No. 2 singles but ultimately fell to USF’s Hasler in a three-set tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8. Passett put up a fight but fell at No. 5 singles against USF’s Randall in a third-set tiebreaker, 7-6, 3-6, 10-8.

PNW Baseball defeats Cleary, 9-0, 9-4 Tuesday Afternoon The Purdue University Northwest baseball team earned a pair of victories over non-league opponent Cleary University Tuesday afternoon.

The Pride (25-15) shutout the Cougars (17-25-1) in game one, 9-0, before picking up a 9-4 win in the nightcap.

Game 1: PNW 9, Cleary 0 The Pride capitalized on an error from the cougars in the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead before Luke Schmidt (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake South) plated Austin Kordik (West Chicago, Ill./Community) in the bottom of the second to take a 2-0 advantage.

Cody Moskovsky (St. John, Ind./Bishop Noll) singled to right field to score Hunter Thorn (Portage, Ind./Portage), with Brock Crews (Manteno, Ill./Manteno) following up with an RBI-double to put the Pride ahead 4-0 in the bottom of the third.

PNW would keep the bats alive in the fifth inning, after another RBI-single from Crews put the Pride up 5-0.

Tyler Garzinski (Avon, Ind./Plainfield) would rip a 3-RBI double in the left center gap which extended the Black and Gold’s advantage to 8-0.

Crews would record a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth for his third RBI of the game, giving the Pride their last run and capping off a 9-0 victory.

Willie Bennett (Santee, Calif./West Hills) picked up his second win of the season, throwing four shutout innings while scattering three hits.

Josh Arnold (Lowell, Ind./Lowell) and Brett Shoults (Oxford, Ind./Benton Central) would shut down the Cougars in relief, with Arnold throwing a pair of scoreless frames and Shoults recording one strikeout in one scoreless inning.

Game 2: PNW 9, Cleary 4 The second game was much like the first, with the Pride jumping ahead early 3-0 after three innings of work.

Hunter Thorn would jumpstart a six-run fifth inning with a 2-RBI single to left field which plated Mike Mikulich (Hebron, Ind./Hebron) and Tyler Crussen (Wheeler, Ind./Wheeler).

The Pride would allow two runs in each of the final two innings, but held on to earn the sweep over the Cougars.

Freshman Tristan Hesser (Dyer, Ind./Boone Grove) earned his first career victory for the Pride, throwing 5.1 innings of work, allowing just one run on two hits while striking out two.

Zac Hernandez (Hebron, Ind./Hebron) and Brett Shoults would enter the game in relief and finish off the Cougars.

The Black and Gold return to action tomorrow, April 26, when the Pride travel to Elgin, Ill. for a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with Judson University starting at 4 p.m. (CT).

Patrick Mudd Earns Top 10 Finish at CCAC Final Round Purdue University Northwest senior Patrick Mudd recorded his best finish of his career to lead the Pride men’s golf team on the final round of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships Tuesday at TPC Deere Run.

Mudd (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) matched his Round 1 score with a Day 2 75 to score a 150 and place tied for sixth in the event, his first top 10 finish of his career. The senior was also voted to the CCAC All-Conference team, the first honor in PNW men’s golf program history.

The Pride men took sixth overall with a two-day score of 631 after carding a 324 Tuesday. The placing improved on both 2015-16 finishes for Purdue Calumet (10th, 662) and Purdue North Central (12th, 692).

Sophomore Ryan Wells (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central) was the next finisher for PNW in 17th place with a two-day score of 156 and senior Brandon Martin (Valparaiso, Ind./Chesterton) placed 28th with a two-day mark of 161. Freshman Brian Bryzcki (Griffith, Ind./Griffith) rounded out PNW’s score with a two-day mark of 164 and Josh Jackowski (St. John, Ind./Hanover Central) completed the Pride’s competitors with a 173.

Day 1 leader Cardinal Stritch took home the team championship with a two-day round of 594 and joins runner-up St. Ambrose (616) — who shaved eight strokes off its Day 1 score — as the two NAIA national qualifying teams.

Overall medalist Joey Medora of Holy Cross College also makes the national field after his two-day score of 142 topped the 67-player field.

Mudd recorded 26 pars to lead the field en route to his sixth-place finish.