Liolios made Northwestern history in Evanston.
Northwestern (20-22, 9-12 B1G) staved off a late-game rally attempt by Butler (14-30, 3-9 Big East), escaping with an 11-7 victory Tuesday afternoon at Miller Park in Evanston as infielder Trent Liolios broke the school’s single-season home run record.
Northwestern shone in the first half of this game, scoring all 11 of its runs in the first five innings. Owen McElfatrick got the fun started for the ‘Cats in the bottom of the first with a single up the middle that scored leadoff man Jacob Hand. Outfielder Jack Lausch drove in Ryan Kucherak with a double down the right field line and a Bennett Markinson groundout scored McElfatrick to complete a three-run inning for NU.
The ‘Cats continued to pile it on from there. First baseman Tyler Ganus smacked a ball over the right field wall to add a run in the bottom of the second, and consecutive home runs by Kucherak and McElfatrick the following inning extended NU’s lead to six. After four, Northwestern held a commanding 9-0 lead.
And then history was made.
Ganus led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk, at which point Butler sent freshman Espn Simpson to the mound to face Northwestern’s Trent Liolios. On a 1-0 count, Liolios launched a ball to dead center field and over the wall for his 16th home run of the season. With the blast, Liolios broke Northwestern’s single-season home run record, a mark that has gone untouched since 1988.
Meanwhile, NU’s pitching staff was nearly impeccable through the first five innings. Starter Blake MacMillan pitched three innings of one-hit baseball, striking out three batters, and freshman Ethan Borggren did not concede a run over his 1.1 innings of work. With an 11-0 lead after five, Northwestern was just two innings away from winning by a run rule.
But the Bulldogs had other plans. Northwestern’s Amar Tsengeg was unable to finish the job started by MacMillan and Borggren, surrendering three earned runs after striking out the leadoff batter. The ‘Cats then turned to freshman arm Jack Grunkemeyer to get them out of a bases-loaded jam. However, Grunkemeyer immediately gave up a bases-clearing double to Butler’s Ryan Drumm, bringing the Bulldogs within five runs.
Butler scored once more in the top of the seventh. However, Grunkemeyer settled down and regained control over the Bulldogs’ feisty lineup over the final three frames. The righty allowed just one hit over his final two innings as the ‘Cats came away with an 11-7 victory.
Tuesday’s win marked the second consecutive victory for Northwestern after it lost four of its previous five contests. With Wednesday’s game against Purdue Fort Wayne cancelled, the ‘Cats will return to action this weekend for a three-game series with Purdue in West Lafayette.