Two Solo Blasts Doom Walter, Wildcats, 2-0
Feb 25, 2005 | Baseball
Natchitoches, La. - Senior lefty Mitch Walter gave up just four hits in six innings, but two were solo blasts, as Northwestern State shut out Kansas State, 2-0, Friday afternoon at Brown-Stroud Field . With the loss, the Wildcats fell to 2-4 on the season, while Northwestern State improved to 6-4.
K-State, down 2-0 in the ninth, put two runners on as Josh Dent and Jared Goedert drew walks, but Barrett Rice flew out and Cris Tapia grounded out to end the game. Northwestern State’s Derek Cloeren picked up the win after throwing 7.0 innings of shutout baseball. Blake Jones earned his third save by throwing the final 2.0 innings.
Walter pitched out of a jam in the fourth as the Demons put runners on first and third with one out with a single, an errant pickoff attempt and a walk. But, Walter got Bobby Barbier to fly out to short left and Brandon Morgan to ground out to second to end the threat. Walter went 6.0 innings, giving up just two runs on four hits while walking one and striking out none. Daniel Edwards and BJ Kissel threw the final 2.0 innings on the mound.
The Demons jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Hunter Thoms took a 1-0 slider over the left field fence with two outs to give Northwestern State the one-run lead. Northwestern then added another single run as Blake Jones lifted a solo homer to right center for a 2-0 Demon advantage.
K-State threatened in the seventh as Barrett Rice legged out an infield single and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and moved to third on a Cris Tapia groundout. But, Eric Eymann struck out with Rice at third.
With Goedert and Rice with the only two hits on the day, Terry Blunt and Eric Eymann saw their season long hitting streaks of eight and five come to an end.
K-State resumes play in the NSU Demon Classic Saturday with two games. The Wildcats will face Eastern Michigan at 10 a.m. and will then wrap up play with a 4 p.m. game against Northern Iowa.
KSU
