Baseball Earns 5-3 Win Over Slippery Rock

OVERVIEW – SLIPPERY ROCK

SCORE: Northwood Timberwolves 5, Slippery Rock 3

RECORDS: Northwood 8-6, Slippery Rock 6-3

LOCATION: Osceola Heritage Park – Field #2 – Kissimmee, Florida

RECAP: Northwood gets a strong start from Ian Dimitrie and uses four-run fifth inning to earn a 5-3 win over Slippery Rock Tuesday afternoon (March 13).

GAME HIGHLIGHTS

• The game was scoreless until Slippery Rock scored single runs in the third and the fourth innings to take a 2-0 lead.
• In the fifth inning, Northwood had its first two batters retired before putting together the key rally of the game. The next seven batters reached base for the Timberwolves (four walks, one hit batter, two hits), allowing Northwood to plate four runs. Javier Martinez got the Timberwolves on the board with an RBI single.
• Later with the bases loaded, Nick Palmer was hit by a pitch to tie the score 2-2.
• The biggest play of the game came with the next batter, Kyle Ziegler, up. He laid down a bunt for a single that scored Martinez. The Slippery Rock third baseman tried to throw out Martinez at the plate but threw it away, which allowed Colin McClelland to also score to push the NU advantage to 4-2.
• In the sixth inning, Northwood got another run after having their first two batter retired. After a David Vinsky double, Martinez got his second RBI single of the day to make the score 5-2.
• The Rock got one back in the top of the eighth to chase Dimitrie out of the game, but Lennon Gwizdala struck out four on his way to retiring the final five batters of the contest.

GAME STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 5/9/3, Slippery Rock: 3/5/2
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 11, Slippery Rock: 7
• Winning Pitcher: Ian Dimitrie (4-0) 7 1/3 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER) 11 K, BB
• Losing Pitcher: Stephen McKee (0-1) 3 1/3 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 3 K
• Save: Lennon Gwizdala (3) 1 2/3 IP, 4 K, 1 BB

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Martinez: 3-5, 2 RBI, 2 SB, R
• Vinsky: 2-3, 2B, 2 R

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• Northwood is now 4-1 on their spring break trip to Florida – NU has trailed in three of their four wins.
• Dimitrie's win was the 14^th of his career, which moves him into ninth in NU history for wins. He is tied with three other pitchers, including his teammate Tyler Jandron.
• Gwizdala's save was the 10^th of his career, good for third in Northwood history.
• The previous day, Slippery Rock posted a 25-1 win over Mansfield.

QUOTING HEAD COACH JORDAN BISCHEL

• On Ian Dimitrie "After his last start, Ian was feeling lousy about how he was pitching, but I reminded him we were 3-0 in his starts this season. Today he was sharp – he really threw the ball where he wanted against an excellent hitting team."
• On Dimitrie's breaking ball: "That is his most improved pitch – he didn't feature it much last year but it's really become a weapon for him."
• "Right now, we aren't in a good grove at the plate, but we are making it tough for the other team to score. And that's giving us chances to win games.

UP NEXT

• Northwood will face Mansfield Wednesday (March 14). First pitch is set for 10:30 a.m.