May 7, 2011
Box Score
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Sembower Field)
Score: Northwestern 9, Indiana 6
Records: NU (15-26, 7-10 Big Ten), Indiana (26-20, 7-10 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Sunday, May 8 -- at Indiana (Bloomington, Ind.), 12:05 p.m. CT
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Senior third baseman Chris Lashmet homered twice and had four hits as the Northwestern baseball team evened its weekend series with Indiana by posting a 9-6 victory at Sembower Field Saturday afternoon.
Paul Snieder, who also homered, and Jack Livingston added three hits apiece as the Wildcats pounded out 16 hits in the contest.
Lashmet got NU on the board in a hurry in the top of the first, socking a first-pitch fastball from IU starter Brian Korte over the fence in left to put the Wildcats in front.
Micah Johnson matched Lashmet in the home half of the inning as he also came to the plate as the second batter and hit a homer off Luke Farrell to tie the game.
Northwestern wasted little time in regaining the lead as back-to-back doubles by Kyle Ruchim and Livingston put the Wildcats up 2-1 and chased Korte from the game. Drew Leininger came on to replace Korte and served up a solo homer to Snieder in the third to extend NU's lead to two.
Indiana got the run right back in the bottom of the third as Dustin DeMuth tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Johnson.
Northwestern opened the game up in the fifth inning, batting around and scoring four runs to make it 7-2. After going 2-for-2 with a walk on Friday, Patrick Miller led off the frame with a pinch-hit single before a walk by Trevor Stevens and infield single by Lashmet loaded the bases with no one out. Snieder scored a pair with a single up the middle before a wild pitch with two outs plated Lashmet from third. Livingston followed by collecting his third hit in as many at-bats to bring home Snieder and increase the advantage to five.
By his team sending nine men to the plate, Farrell had a long wait and the Hoosiers were able to get two runs right back on RBI singles by Dustin DeMuth and Alex Dickerson to get the hosts back within 7-4.
The Wildcats added one run back to their lead in the top of the seventh. With a runner on second, one out and Nick Linne at the plate, Jonny Hoffman replaced Matt Carr on the mound. Hoffman inherited an 0-1 count, but Linne lined a single to right to plate Livingston to put Northwestern up by four.
Snieder came on to pitch the bottom of the seventh and the Hoosiers got two men into scoring position with one out. However, Snieder worked out of trouble, getting a strikeout and a foul out to first base to maintain the four-run lead.
Lashmet continued his big day in the top of the eighth as he crushed a Casey Smith offering deep over the fence in left-center for his second round-tripper of the day and NU's third as a team. In three games that have been televised by Big Ten Network this season, the Wildcats have hit nine home runs. In their 38 non-televised games, they've hit a total of six homers.
Ruchim, who struck out the side on 11 pitches in the eighth, worked the final two frames to seal the victory. Farrell (5-2) worked six innings, allowing six hits, four runs and two walks while striking out five to pick up the win.
The teams conclude their series at 12:05 p.m. Central time Sunday.
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