John Snelten
(Ingleside, Ill./Antioch
H.S.) went the distance on Tuesday evening, allowing just five hits while not
walking a batter to lead Valparaiso to a 14-2 victory
over Northwestern at the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary, Ind.
Snelten fired his first
complete game of his career, striking out eight to improve his record to 3-3
and was aided by plenty of early runs by his offense.
“Snelten pitched well for us
tonight,” head coach Tracy Woodson
said. “He showed by going the distance
tonight that we have another starter for the Horizon League Tournament.”
Valpo wasted little time
getting on the scoreboard in the opening inning. Dan
DeBruin (Combined Locks, Wis./Kimberly
H.S.) led off with a single the opposite way and Kyle Muhlsteff (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza
H.S.) followed with a triple to deep centerfield. Matt
Lenski (Milwaukee, Wis./Marquette
University H.S.) added an infield single to plate Muhlsteff, making it 2-0
Crusaders after one.
The Crusaders then batted for
25 minutes in the second inning, sending 14 batters to the plate and scored
nine times. Two bunt singles got the
rally going, the second which saw a throwing error plate two runners and allow Steven Scoby (Delton, Kellogg H.S.),
the batter to reach third base. A wild
pitch scored another run and Josh
Wallace’s (Bellefountaine,
Ohio/Bellefountaine H.S.) two-run
single scored two more. Ryan O’Gara (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Buffalo
Grove H.S.) then delivered the big blow, a three-run homer to left, his first
collegiate homer. Kyle Gaedele (Arlington
Heights, Ill./Rolling
Meadows H.S.) capped the inning with a
RBI single into shallow left-center.
“It was nice to get a big
lead,” Woodson added. “We did the little
things that inning. We bunted, stole
bases, everything we needed to do.”
Northwestern answered with
two runs in the bottom of the third.
Quentin Williams led off the inning with a homer to left and Chris
Lashmet added a sacrifice fly.
Gaedele added a RBI double
with one out in the fourth and DeBruin added a run on a groundout. A run-scoring single by Wallace in the fifth
increased the advantage to 14-2.
Valpo pounded out 12 hits on
the evening, with O’Gara and Wallace picking up three RBIs each.
Matt Diedrich (0-2) suffered
the loss for Northwestern (12-31), allowing eight runs, five hits, and four
walks in 1.1 innings.
“Beating a Big Ten team is
big for us,” concluded Woodson.
Valparaiso (24-20) will take to the road for the final time
during the 2009 regular season on Saturday afternoon as the Crusaders head to Youngstown, Ohio. Valpo and Youngstown State
will meet in doubleheader action beginning at 11 a.m. CDT.