Jacob Hand plays hero as the ‘Cats return to the win column.
Northwestern (18-20, 8-10 B1G) survived a late-game rally from UIC (11-27, 7-8 MVC), coming away with a 7-6 victory at Miller Park on Tuesday after infielder Jacob Hand smashed a walk-off home run.
Northwestern starting pitcher Crawford Wade got off to a rocky start, allowing a leadoff double to UIC’s Lucas Smith in the top of the first. Thomas Curry sent another double down the left field line to score Smith, and the Flames tacked on one more run following a pair of base hits to take a 2-0 lead before Northwestern stepped up to the plate.
UIC starting pitcher George Eisenhardt retired NU’s first three batters, including striking out Owen McElfatrick and Trent Liolios. However, the ‘Cats struck back the following inning. After Eisenhardt hit NU’s Ryan Kucherak with a pitch, Jackson Freeman knocked a base hit down the right field line to advance Kucherak to third. A Jack Lausch sacrifice fly scored Kucherak, and the ‘Cats scored again the following inning off a homer by McElfatrick to tie up the score.
Jack Grunkemeyer took over on the mound for Northwestern in the third inning, and he pitched nearly flawlessly for two innings. However, he ran into some trouble in the fifth, walking two straight UIC batters before a base knock by Luke Nowak loaded the bases. Grunkemeyer then plunked Curry with a pitch to drive in a run for UIC, but he forced a double play ball from the following batter to limit the damage to one run.
After going scoreless in the bottom of the fifth, Northwestern erupted for four runs over its next two innings. Kucherak led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to the right center gap, and Bennett Markinson drove him in with a base hit. Markinson then reached third off a wild pitch and scored off a groundout from Griffin Mills. The following inning, Kucherak slugged a homer to left field, scoring McElfatrick and propelling the ‘Cats to a 6-3 lead with two frames to go.
However, NU ran into further trouble in the top of the eighth. After tossing a scoreless seventh, Northwestern’s Ethan Borggren gave up a leadoff homer to A.J. Taylor. The Flames added another run after four of their next five batters reached base, and a sacrifice fly from Nowak scored the tying run. After NU failed to score in the bottom of the eighth, the teams were knotted up at six headed into the final inning.
Borggren bounced back from his rocky eighth inning in the top of the ninth, retiring all three batters he faced. In the bottom half of the inning, with no outs, Northwestern’s Jacob Hand launched a ball past the left field fence for his first home run of the season, securing a thrilling 7-6 walkoff victory for the ‘Cats.
With the win, the ‘Cats officially clinched their season series over UIC, going 2-1. Next up, they will attempt to reach the .500 mark this weekend when they host Washington for a three-game series in Evanston.