April 20, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern's baseball team dropped the second game of today's twinbill vs. Penn State 5-4 at NU's Rocky Miller Park in Evanston. Falling behind 4-0 after the first three innings, the Wildcats tied the score in the fourth, plating two runs in the bottom of the third and two more the following inning. But right-handed pitcher Dan Konecny (Ripon, Wis./Ripon) gave up a leadoff single in the top of the sixth that came around to score and eventually became the winning run.
Konecny got off to a slow start, giving up three first-inning runs on three Penn State hits. The big hot of the inning came when catcher Matt Harter doubled to the left centerfield fence scoring two Nittany Lion runners.
PSU tallied its fourth run in the top of the third when Harter knocked a 1-0 Konecny offering over the left field wall.
NU responded in the bottom half of the inning, plating two runs on four hits. Designated hitter/pitcher Dan Pohlman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) got things started with a leadoff single to left and advanced to second on shortstop Jon Mikrut's (Wauconda, Ill./Carmel) single up the middle. With two outs and runners on first and third, catcher Ken Padgett (Littleton, Colo./Arapahoe) hit an RBI infield single to third and was quickly followed by Brandon Ackley's (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) first RBI double of the game. Ackley shot to left center scored Mikrut from second.
The 'Cats crossed the plate two more times in the fourth, as left fielder Jason Krynski (Niles, Ill./Niles West) led off with a single to center and advanced to second on Pohlman's one-out single up the middle. Both runners then advanced on a botched hidden ball trick play that was ruled a balk by the second base umpire. So, with runners on second and third, Mikrut nailed a 1-2 offering straight back up the middle, scoring Krynski and Pohlman.
Penn State scored what turned out to be the winning run on the top of the sixth when Mike Hurey scored on a Pohlman wild pitch. Hurey was running for designated hitter Arin Gelletly who led off the inning with a single through the right side. Pohlman replaced Konecny after Gelletly single.
NU threatened in the sixth when Krynski doubled to left center to lead things off. After a Penn State pitching change, center fielder David Gresky (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Ignatius) grounded out to third. Pohlman was then intentionally walked to set up the double play, bringing to the plate pinch hitter Matt Thompson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville). Thompson was hitting for Mikrut who left the game after getting hit in the face by the baseball on a stolen base attempt. Thompson went down swinging and was followed by Eric Roeder's (Onsted, Mich./Onsted) free pass to first. With the bases loaded, senior Steve Haake Belleville, Ill./Gibault) popped a first pitch curve ball straight up to the second baseman, ending the Northwestern scoring threat.
Offensively, NU out hit the Nittany Lions 9-7, with Ackley, Pohlman and Mikrut all with two hits each. Both of Ackley's hits were doubles, giving him eight on the season.
NU falls to 13-19 overall and 5-9 in the Big Ten. The two teams will wrap up their four game series tomorrow at 1 p.m. The game is schedule to be a nine-inning affair.