EVANSTON, Ill. – Northwestern dropped its series opener to Rutgers, 8-5, on Thursday afternoon at Miller Park.
INF Ryan Kucherak went 3-for-5 with two doubles, one RBI and one run. INF Nick Barron also recorded three hits, a career high, going 3-for-4 with a run scored.
INF Noah Ruiz put Northwestern (20-29-1, 7-21 Big Ten) on the board first in the bottom of the first with a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring OF Jack Lausch for the first run of the game.
Rutgers (25-27, 12-16 Big Ten) evened the game at one on an RBI single in the fourth.
The Wildcats retook the lead on a two-run single by OF Logan de Groot in the fourth and added on in the fifth, with Kucherak coming around to score on a sacrifice bunt by OF Jackson Freeman.
LHP Ryan Weaver delivered a quality start, surrendering two runs in 6.0 innings, striking out a pair and issuing two walks.
The Scarlet Knights trimmed the Wildcat lead to 4-2 with an RBI single in the sixth and went ahead in the seventh with six runs, three earned, on five hits and an error to take an 8-4 lead.
Lausch led off the ninth with a triple and scored on a groundout by Kucherak, but NU was unable to muster anything else in the ninth.
Game two of the three-game series is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT on Friday afternoon on B1G+.
