May 5, 2001
STATE COLLEGE, PA. - The Northwestern baseball team rebounded from a Friday loss to Penn State by winning the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, 4-0. Senior Michael Nall (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) needed just 1 hour and 25 minutes to take care of the Nittany Lions. Nall threw his fifth complete game of the season, giving up just three hits for his third shutout of the year. Nall struck out six, upping his season total to 70 in 86.2 innings of work.
In the second inning, freshman Jason Krynski (Niles, Ill./Niles West) walked and advanced to third on catcher Joe Hietpas' (Appleton, Wis./North) double to left. With no outs and runners on second and third, third baseman Wesley Robinson hit a sacrifice fly to left to put NU up, 1-0.
Krynski and Hietpas teamed up again in the fourth, when Krynski earned a free pass and Hietpas belted his fourth home run of the season by taking a Pete Yodis offering over the leftfield wall.
NU closed out its scoring by manufacturing a run in the fifth, as shortstop Josh Lieberman (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) led off with a single to center and advanced to second on a Yodis wild pitch. Lieberman then took third on a Steve Haake (Belleville, Ill./Gibault) groundout, and scored on a safety squeeze by Eric Roeder.
Offensively, NU had seven hits led by Hietpas's 2-for-3 performance. Hietpas had two RBI, while Roeder and third baseman Robinson each drove in a run. Lieberman also went 2-for-3 at the plate, scoring a run.
The 'Cats upped their record to 21-28, 9-13 in the conference.