Northwestern Baseball uses fast start at the plate, dominant outing from Farinelli to beat Purdue, 11-1.
After dropping an 8-14 decision against Purdue on Friday, Northwestern Baseball came into Saturday afternoon's rubber match against the Boilermakers 2.5 games back of Purdue for the eighth and final spot in the Big Ten tournament with 5 conference games remaining on the year.
The 'Cats arms and bats responded from the get-go, as Michael Farinelli pitched a one-run complete game and the bats hammered out 11 runs on 13 hits.
Farinelli's final line on the day was 9.0 innings pitched with 7 strikeouts and 2 walks while surrendering just the 1 run on 6 hits. The complete game marked the third time Farinelli has gone the distance on the mound for Northwestern this year, although this is the first time he has thrown a 9 inning complete game.
Offensively, here's how the game played out for Northwestern:
Patrick Herrera and Anthony Calarco hit back-to-back singles on the first two pitches of the ballgame to hit the ground running, then the Wildcats collected 2 runs later in the bottom of the first courtesy of a Jay Beshears RBI single and a run coming across home plate after Ruben Fontes hit into a double play.
Two innings later in the bottom of the third, Northwestern plated another run to make it 3-0 Wildcats after Purdue second baseman Paul Toetz botched a routine ground ball off the bat of Fontes, allowing Patrick Herrera to score on the play.
Northwestern started to blow the game wide open with a barrage of hits starting in the bottom of the fifth.
Herrera walked to start the inning and Anthony Calarco followed him with his first home run of the day, an opposite field shot to left that made it 5-0 'Cats. Not to be outdone, Jay Beshears followed Calarco with an opposite field home run of his own to make it 6-0.
After Beshears crossed home plate, Ethan O'Donnell stepped in and hit a ball off the top of the right centerfield wall for his 23rd double of the year, breaking a single-season record that was previously set by Jake Goebbert in 2008.
No player in Northwestern history has hit more doubles in a season than Ethan O'Donnell (23) 👑
— Northwestern Baseball (@NUCatsBaseball) May 14, 2022
Here's the moment Ethan entered the record books:@ethanodonnell14 | @NU_Sports pic.twitter.com/fR1DE3ZFp9
JC Santini walked to open the bottom of the sixth and was advanced on a pair of sacrifices--one bunt and one on the fly--before the Anthony Calarco show continued with his second opposite field, two-run homer of the day, making it an 8-1 ballgame.
Second home run of the day for AC!#GoCats | @antcalarco pic.twitter.com/XSUPN7HgxU
— Northwestern Baseball (@NUCatsBaseball) May 14, 2022
O'Donnell hit his second double of the game, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple in the bottom of the seventh. Tommy D'Alise followed O'Donnell later in the inning with another oppo-taco home run for the 'Cats, this one of the 2-out, 2-run variety to extend Northwestern's lead, 10-1.
Northwestern added a final insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on a RBI single from O'Donnell to move the score to 11-1 in favor of the 'Cats.
The win moves Northwestern to 22-24 on the season and 8-12 in Big Ten conference play with the series capper set to be played tomorrow at 11 AM CST at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park in Evanston.
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Eli Ong is a contributor to Wildcats Daily of Sports Illustrated's FanNation Network. Eli specializes in video and written content and will look to focus on baseball-related coverages when able.