Story by NU Athletic Communications
Facing an early four-run deficit, the Red team used a seven-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth inning to post a 7-5 win and grab a 2-1 lead in the Red-White Series on Monday afternoon at Hawks Field.
Red had seven runs on six hits and an error, while White totaled five runs on nine hits.
Gavin Blachowicz earned the win out of the bullpen, dealing 2.1 shutout innings with one hit, a strikeout and one walk. Luke Broderick collected the save after pitching the final 1.2 innings in shutout fashion. Will Walsh went three innings in the start, allowing four runs on eight hits with a pair of punchouts.
White’s Jackson Brockett took the loss after giving up six runs on four hits with four strikeouts and three walks in 3.2 innings of work. Pryce Bender surrendered a run on two hits in 1.1 innings out of the bullpen, while J’Shawn Unger tossed one scoreless inning of relief.
Red’s Hayden Lewis went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and an RBI. Cayden Brumbaugh was 1-for-4 with a double and three RBI. Riley Silva and Gabe Swansen tallied a hit and an RBI each, while Cael Frost added a hit.
Robby Bolin, Case Sanderson and Will Jesske led the White offense with two hits apiece. Dylan Carey, Max Buettenback and TJ Coats recorded one hit.
The White offense went to work early, plating three runs on four hits in the opening frame. Consecutive one-out singles from Bolin and Carey had runners on first and third, before Buettenback lined an RBI double into the left-center gap to bring home Bolin.
Carey trotted home on a passed ball, while Sanderson smacked an RBI to right field to score Buettenback and give the visiting team a 3-0 advantage in the first.
Sanderson ripped a two-out double down the right-field line and later came around to score on an RBI single from Jesske to build the lead to 4-0 in the top of the third.
Red overcame the four-run deficit with a seven-run outburst with five hits in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-5 lead with three innings to play. All seven runs were scored with two outs in the inning, beginning with a sacrifice fly from Cotton and an RBI double from Lewis that cut the deficit to 4-2.
With the bases loaded, Brumbaugh smacked the 1-1 pitch to right for a bases-clearing three-RBI double that gave Red its first lead of the afternoon. RBI singles from Silva and Swansen grew the lead to three for the Red team in the bottom of the fourth.
A leadoff walk to Rhett Stokes began the seventh, while Stokes later scored when Carey lifted a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left field to bring the White squad within a pair of runs in the final inning.
Broderick struck out the next batter to preserve the 7-5 win for the Red team.
The Red-White Series continues tomorrow afternoon at 3:05 p.m. at Hawks Field.