Northwestern at Bellevue

• PREVIEW
• BOXSCORE

In a game of two conference favorites Bellevue defeated Northwestern 4-2 at Westgate Park.  All the scoring was done in the fifth inning, started by Northwestern.  Mike Zoellner and Justin Boersma each hit one out singles to put runners at the corners and Matt Gray sacrificed Boersma to second to move two runners into scoring position for Austin Malone.  Malone smashed a two-out double into the left-center gap putting Northwestern up 2-0.  Northwestern couldn't hold the lead for long though, as Bellevue answered back with four runs off of starter Stuart Moore.  

The Bruins started the bottom of the fifth with a shallow fly ball double that was misplayed by the Red Raiders.  Left fielder Shawn Lee drove in the run with a sharp single then was thrown out trying to steal second.  Dave Powell then hit a ground ball that was thrown away by Northwestern.  After a Nick Damas fly out that should have ended the inning, Bellevue scored three more runs, all unearned to take a 4-2 lead.  Bruin starter Jon Ganzen (11-3 in 2007) was relieved by Nick Love (15-5 in 2007) in the sixth and kept Northwestern off the scoreboard stranding Northwestern runners on base three of the four innings he pitched, leaving the bases loaded in the sixth, two on in the seventh, and one on in the ninth.  

Stuart Moore pitched five innings for Northwestern, allowed six hits, four runs (one earned), and walked four.  Andrew Engesser pitched the final three innings, he allowed three hits, walked one, and struck out one.  Codie Zeutenhorst threw out three of the six Bruins trying to steal bases and Austin Malone hit a double to each field to lead Northwestern defensively and offensively.  

Northwestern fell to 10-8 overall and is 3-1 in the GPAC.