Hammond, Ind. - The Parkside Rangers completed a four-game sweep over the Purdue Northwest Pride on Sunday. The Rangers, trailing 10-2, put together a nine-run seventh inning to take their first lead of the game. They finished the game with 11 unanswered runs, stunning the Pride with a 13-10 victory. This marks Parkside's first-ever GLIAC sweep, having won five of six games against Purdue Northwest this season.
How It Happened:
In the final game of the weekend, the scoring took its time getting underway. Noah Gerritson got the nod in the series finale on the mound and dealt a pair of scoreless innings to begin the afternoon. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when Purdue Northwest got on the board first with the help of a Billy Jones three-run bomb. They tagged another run in the inning, possessing a four-run lead over the Rangers after three innings.
The Rangers got on the board and sliced the deficit in half, adding a run in both the fourth and sixth innings courtesy of a pair of Pride errors. However, the Pride's offense picked up their defensive struggles in the home half of the sixth, scoring six runs in the inning and propelling themselves to a 10-2 lead.
All weekend long, the Rangers were able to produce at the plate in the seventh inning or later. That narrative continued in the final game of the weekend. Emanuel Andujar Ferreira got the Rangers going with an RBI double into right field, one of Andujar's three hits in the game, scoring Peter Fusek from second.
The next hitter was Koto Sato. Sato, who had his first four-hit game of his Ranger career, followed up with an RBI single of his own, scoring Angel Rades and cutting the lead to six runs.
Ranger hitters started to feel the momentum change and rode the energy to a massive rally. Next was Camden Kearney, who stroked an RBI single into center field, scoring Andujar from second, cutting the deficit to five runs.
Carter Storti had a few big hits in this game. His first clutch swing came later in the seventh inning. With runners on the corners, Storti brought Sato home from third with a bullet single into left field, narrowing the lead to 10-6.
The Rangers loaded the bases for Jared Heinzen. The senior delivered yet another big hit, shooting a base hit into right field and scoring both Carter Storti and Camden Kearney, bringing the Rangers within two runs at 10-8.
The clutch hits became contagious. Peter Fusek stepped up next and clobbered a game-tying two-run triple into the right-center gap, scoring Jared Heinzen and Owen Brock without a throw to the plate. The game was tied at 10, and the Rangers still were not done.
The hero from yesterday's game, John Wubben, once again got the best of the Pride. Wubben hit a soft ground ball to the right side and beat out the throw to first with a head-first dive into the bag, scoring Fusek and capping off a brilliant nine-run seventh inning. They took their first lead of the game, with the score at 11-10 in favor of the Rangers.
The scoring wasn't done for the Rangers. In the top of the eighth inning, Carter Storti had his second big swing of the game, clubbing a two-run bomb over the left-center field fence. It was Storti's third homer of the season, providing the insurance the Rangers were looking for as they led 13-10.
After the monster top of the seventh inning, the Rangers turned to Sean Sodaro on the mound. Sodaro provided two scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth innings. Sodaro did his job and passed the baton to Peter Fusek for the save.
Fusek came in from left field to pitch the final inning of the game, getting the final three outs and earning his second save of the season. For the first time in program history, the Rangers completed a four-game sweep over a GLIAC opponent. They have now won five straight games and improved their overall record to 21-22. They currently stand alone in fifth place in the conference, just two games behind Davenport for fourth place.
Next:
The Rangers will take a short break from conference play with a battle against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Tuesday. The Rangers will play on the road in Franklin, Wisconsin, with the first pitch slated for 5:00 pm. For coverage of the event, visit ParksideRangers.com/coverage.
