May 22, 2002
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - At the 2002 Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis, Minn., Northwestern's baseball team opened up with a 4-2 first-round win over No. 3-seed Michigan State. The sixth-seeded Wildcats followed the lead of senior right-hander Gabe Ribas (Brunswick, Maine/Brunswick), who threw eight complete innings, gave up five hits and struck out seven.
With the win, NU advances to the winner's bracket and will face No. 1 seed Minnesota at 7 p.m. Thursday night. In Wednesday's other first-round game, No. 4 Indiana defeated No. 5 Iowa, 7-4.
The Spartans jumped out early against the 'Cats, scoring single runs in the first and second inning off Ribas. After the second, Ribas allowed just two hits over the next six innings, including a leadoff double in the ninth. After the double, Head Coach Paul Stevens called on freshman Jon Mikrut (Wauconda, Ill./Carmel) to close the door. Mikrut did just that, setting down the next three Spartan hitters, one of which was a strikeout. This season, Mikrut is five-for-five in save opportunities and has 13 strikeouts in 13.0 innings pitched.
NU threatened in the fourth as third-team All-Big Ten selection, Travis Tharp (Boulder, Colo./Boulder) doubled down the right field line to lead off the inning. NU failed to capitalize as Tharp was stranded on third with two Wildcats failing to bring him home. Tharp reached third on center fielder David Gresky's (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Ignatius) sacrifice bunt.
NU finally got on the board in the top of the eighth as second baseman Eric Roeder (Onsted, Mich./Onsted) hit a line-drive home run over the left field wall. It was Roeder's third round-tripper of the season and his second in as many games. Right fielder Brandon Ackley blooped the next pitch to center and went to second on Tharp's single. With runners on first and second with no outs, Gresky hit into a 6-4-3 double play, putting Ackley on third with two outs. Two pitches later, Ackley crossed the plate when Spartan starter Nick Bates threw his sixth wild pitch of the year, allowing Ackley to score and tie the game at 2-2.
Ribas came out in the bottom half of the inning and allowed a one-out walk. He quickly got Tri-Big Ten Player of the Year Bob Malek to hit into an inning-ending double play.
In the ninth, the Wildcats greeted Michigan State reliever Kyle Geswein with three straight singles to load the bases. After Tharp forced pinch-hitter Josh Lieberman (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) out at home on a groundout to second with the infield in, Gresky roped a game-winning single through the right side to score two runs and give NU its 4-2 lead.
Offensively, Ackley went 3-for-4 with two runs scored while Gresky had two RBI. Tharp and Roeder each had two hits, including Roeder's eighth-inning-rally-starting home run.
Ribas became Northwestern's all-time strikeout and innings pitched leader, throwing eight complete innings, striking out seven and walking two. On the season, Ribas has 90 strikeouts and only 15 walks, a 6.0-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio. In his career, Ribas has struck out 284 hitters and thrown 327.2 innings.
For more information on the 2002 Big Ten Tournament, visit Minnesota's tournament site at Big Ten Baseball Tournament.