Purdue Northwest Sets New Team Record; Bryzicki Takes Second
Purdue University Northwest freshman Bryan Bryzicki shot his best 18-hole round of the season to place second overall and help the Pride men’s golf team to a new school record and second place finish at Tuesday’s St. Francis (Ill.) Spring Invitational.
Bryzicki (Griffith, Ind./Griffith) shot a team-low 71 – which ties teammate Patrick Mudd (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) for the second lowest round by a PNW golfer this season – to take runner-up honors in the event at Inwood Golf Course.
PNW recorded a new school-record mark of 297 to tie with Roosevelt for first place in the standings, but the Lakers took home the title with a tiebreaker win (fifth golfer score).
PNW sophomore Ryan Wells (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central) was just two strokes behind Bryzicki for his second lowest round of the year to place sixth, and Mudd recorded a 74.
Senior Brandon Martin (Valparaiso, Ind./Chesterton) was the fourth PNW golfer to break 80 with his 79, helping the Pride beat their previous best and school record mark of 298, set at the PNW Fall Classic last September.
Freshman Payton Smith (Cedar Lake, Ind./Hanover Central) rounded out the PNW competitors with an 18-hole score of 81.
Purdue Northwest returns to action this weekend, when the Pride compete in Friday and Saturday’s Bethel Pilot Invite in South Bend, Ind.
PNW (297) – Brian Bryzicki 71; Ryan Wells 73; Patrick Mudd 74; Brandon Martin 79; Payton Smith 81.
Purdue Northwest Splits With TIU Tuesday The Purdue University Northwest softball team rebounded from a tough Game 1 loss with a dominate nightcap win in Tuesday’s league split with Trinity International at Dowling Park’s Fifth Third Bank Field.
The Pride (17-16-1, 7-5 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference) fell in eight innings in Game 1, 7-6, before topping the Trojans (11-17, 7-7) in Game 2, 6-0.
Senior Caroline Brown (Minooka, Ill./Minooka Community) earned the win in the nightcap, throwing her second shut out of the year in the two-hit, seven-inning effort, and PNW’s Holly Pagan (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) homered twice and totaled five RBI across the two games to lead the Pride.
PNW returns to action Friday, April 14, when they travel to Whiting, Ind., to take on Calumet St. Joseph in a pair starting at 1 p.m. CT.
GAME 2: PNW 6, TIU 0
Purdue Northwest didn’t leave the nightcap to chance, as the Pride netted runs in the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings en route to Caroline Brown’s second shutout of the season.
Brown (8-6) picked up her eighth win of the year in the seven-inning outing, allowing just two hits, striking out one and walking one while not allowing an extra-base hit.
PNW’s offense did the rest, as Holly Pagan connected on her second home run of the day — and seventh of the year — in the third to make it 3-0 PNW. Allyson Leach’s (Demotte, Ind./North Newton) bunt single plated the game’s first run in the second, scoring Samantha Oppenhuis (Munster, Ind./Illiana Christian), who went a perfect 2-for-2 on the day and scored twice.
Kyleigh Payne (Bourbonnais, Ill./Bishop McNamara) bunted in another run in the fourth and Pagan struck again with an RBI double to left center to push the Pride’s lead to 5-0 before Leach added the game’s final score with a RBI double to plate Oppenhuis.
Pagan finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBI, a home run and a double; Oppenhuis was 2-for-2 and Leach was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI to lead the Pride offense.
GAME 1: TIU 7, PNW 6 (8 innings)
Despite home runs from Kyleigh Payne and Holly Pagan and a 10-hit effort for PNW, Trinity International made a late run to send the game into extra innings where the Trojans would eventually win in the eighth, 7-6.
PNW led by as many as four on two separate occasions, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the third after Payne blasted her ninth long ball of the year in the first inning on a two-run shot and Allyson Leach (double) added RBIs in both the first and third inning.
The Trojans would strike back with two runs in the fourth on a Tenley Bozzi two-RBI double to make it 4-2 PNW before junior Holly Pagan joined the home run party with a two-run shot over the centerfield fence in the bottom of the inning, pushing the lead back to four, 6-2.
But TIU would continue to chip away, scoring a run in the fifth and then three more in the sixth to tie it at 6-all, when the Trojans loaded the bases with one out and capitalized on a PNW error.
After PNW failed to score with runners in scoring position in the seventh, TIU used an Alyssa Doomis bloop single in the eighth to score the eventual game winner.
Haley Loden (Crown Point, Ind./Lake Central) (double), Taylor Kotzo (Munster, Ind./Munster) (two doubles), and Tessa Steffens (Litchfield, Ill./Litchfield) each tallied two hits in the game while Payne and Pagan each had two RBIs to go along with their respective home runs.
Caroline Brown took the loss in the circle despite not allowing an earned run in 2 and 2/3 innings, giving up four hits, striking out two and walking none.
Purdue Northwest's Brown Named CCAC Pitcher of the Week After a dominating performance last week, Purdue University Northwest softball senior Caroline Brown was selected as the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week as released by the league Tuesday.
Brown (Minooka, Ill./Minooka Community) earned her first-ever weekly honor after finishing the Pride’s six-game week with a 4-0 record, a stunning 0.29 ERA and added 14 strikeouts in 24 innings pitched.
She gave up just one earned run and picked up wins over Olivet Nazarene, Robert Morris (two), and St. Xavier while throwing three complete games and holding opponents to a .172 batting average and two extra base hits.
Brown is currently 7-5 with a 1.53 earned run average, which ranks third in the CCAC.
The weekly award marks the second-straight for PNW after junior Holly Pagan (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) earned the league’s Player of the Week honor last week.
The Pride went 5-1 last week and take on Trinity International in a pair of games Tuesday at Dowling Park starting at 3 p.m.
Purdue Northwest's Matt Sandoval Earns CCAC Pitcher of the Week Purdue University Northwest baseball senior right hander Matt Sandoval earned his first career Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week award, as released by the conference Tuesday.
Sandoval (Highland, Ind./Highland), a 6-foot-1 senior for the Pride, had a stellar week for PNW, picking up his fifth win of the year in a complete-game, two-hit shutout against St. Ambrose April 4. He struck out nine batters in the contest.
He later earned his first save of the year in a 7-6 win at Trinity Christian April 8, retiring Troll batters 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning — striking out one — to seal the win and the series for PNW.
On the year, Sandoval is 5-1 with a 1.02 ERA which ranks first in the CCAC: the next closest to the senior is St. Xavier’s Tyler Hebel, who carries a 2.40 ERA.
The award also marks the first CCAC weekly honor in PNW baseball history.
The Pride (14-13) return to action Wednesday, when they travel to CCAC foe Roosevelt (Ill.) for a 1 p.m. CT twin bill in Chicago.
Purdue Northwest Falls on Walk-Off HR at St. Joseph's The Purdue University Northwest baseball team fell victim to a walk-off home run, as the Pride fell 3-2 in nonleague play at St. Joseph’s College (Ind.) Tuesday.
Purdue Northwest (14-13) scored the game’s opening run in the first inning and held that lead until the seventh, when the Pumas (22-11) plated two runs on a Chase Fieldhouse two-run homer.
PNW didn’t give in though, answering in the eighth when Avondre Harris (Mishawaka, Ind./Mishawaka) singled to left field with two runners on to score Brock Crews (Manteno, Ill./Manteno) from third. Crews walked, advanced to second when Mike Mikulich (Hebron, Ind./Hebron) was hit by a pitch and then third on a SJC wild pitch to help PNW tie the game at 2-all.
But the Pumas – who retired PNW 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth – walked off with the win when Riley Benner belted a one-out, walk-off home run over the left field fence.
Harris (single) scored the game’s opening run for Pride in the first, as senior Tyler Crussen (Wheeler, Ind./Wheeler) connected on an RBI double to left.
Harris finished 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and scored a run to lead PNW, who had just four hits. Crussen and Mikulich accounted for the other hits for PNW.
PNW senior Brody Kutch (La Porte, Ind./La Porte) took the loss on the mound. Starter Zac Hernandez (Hebron, Ind./Hebron) recorded a no-decision, allowing three hits, striking out four, walking one and did not give up an earned run.
PNW returns to action Wednesday when the Pride travel to Roosevelt (Ill.) for a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader in Chicago.
Game 1 is set for 1 p.m. CT.
