Northwestern
Illinois
Baseball Loses to Illinois, 7-3
4/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 1, 2001
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Northwestern baseball team fell to the University of Illinois for the third straight time Sunday afternoon at Illinois Field in Champaign. NU lost 7-3 in the first game of a doubleheader.
NU came right out of the blocks, scoring a run in the top of the first. Steve Haake (Belleville, Ill./Gibault) watched the first four pitches of the game and earned a free pass to first from Illini pitcher Justin Olson. Next up was Eric Roeder (Onsted, Mich./Onsted), who placed a fastball into center field advancing Haake to second. Haake then stole third and Todd Morgan (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) singled to center, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats scored two more in the top of the fourth when freshman David Gresky (North Royalton, Ohio/St. Ignatius) reached on an error by the third baseman and scored on an error by their shortstop. Travis Tharp (Boulder, Colo./ Boulder) was the other runner to score, singling in the inning and came home when sophomore Brandon Ackley (Camel, Ind./Carmel) stroked a single to left field. That was all the scoring NU could muster off Olson, who went the distance (seven innings) and gave up seven runs on seven hits, walking four and striking out three.
Junior Gabe Ribas (Brunswick, Maine/Brunswick) threw his first complete game of the season, giving up seven runs (three earned) on 10 hits striking out four.
Offensively, Tharp and Morgan had two hits apiece while Ackley, Roeder and freshman Jason Krynski (Niles, Ill./Niles) each had a hit. Krynski's hit came in a pinch-hit performance in the top of the seventh.
The Illini scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth and four more in the fifth to take Game 3 of the four-game conference series.
Northwestern falls to 10-16 overall and 0-3 in the Big Ten.
