Purdue Fort Wayne
NORTH DAKOTA STATE
Knowling Shines Again
4/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 18, 2008
Fort Wayne, IN - Junior left hander Brandon Knowling moved to 4-0 on the season and IPFW snapped a four-game losing streak by beating North Dakota State in Summit League play, 5-2 Friday afternoon at Mastodons Field.
Knowling tossed 8.0 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits. He struck out a season-high 11 and didn't surrender a walk, while lowering his ERA to 2.97.
Freshman Samuel Walker came on to pitch a scoreless 9th inning for his second save of the year.
IPFW opened the scoring in the 3rd inning. Catcher Devin Taylor got the inning going with a single up the middle and stole second. He was brought home by an RBI single by senior right fielder Aaron Kerns.
IPFW broke the game open in the 6th inning.
First baseman Shaun VanDriessche singled to left after center fielder Jared Davis led off the inning by being hit by a pitch from NDSU starter Jake Laber.
With two on and one out, junior designated hitter Chris Gottschall doubled to left center scoring both.
Gottschall would come around to score on a wild pitch uncorked by Laber.
Knowling only made one mistake in the ball game. With two out and a runner on first in the top of the eighth, designated hitter Sabastian Miles hit his first homer of the year off of the scoreboard in left center field.
With the score 4-2, the 'Dons got one back in the bottom of the 8th inning. Gottschall reached with his second double of the game.
Junior Quentin Brown came on to pinch-run for Gottschall and scored easily on an RBI double by shortstop Mark Carden.
Gottschall and Carden each had a pair of hits in the game for the Mastodons.
Laber took the loss for NDSU (0-5) giving up five earned on eight hits over eight complete.
With the loss North Dakota State falls to 7-21, 0-8 Summit League.
IPFW improves to 8-22-1, 4-5 Summit League.
The series will continue with a double-header on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
~Dons~
