Purdue Northwest Hosts Davenport For Four-Game GLIAC Series

Purdue-Northwest-Hosts-Davenport-For-Four-Game-GLIAC-SeriesThe Purdue Northwest baseball team hosts Davenport for a four-game series this weekend at Dowling Park for the final series of the year before the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Baseball Tournament starts next week.

The Panthers (26-17, 16-8 GLIAC) take on the Pride (18-21, 8-15 GLIAC) for a nine-inning game Friday starting at 3 p.m. (CT), then on Saturday the two teams meet up for a doubleheader (2-7 inning games) starting at noon (CT). The series concludes on Sunday with a 9-inning game starting at noon (CT).

GLIAC TOURNAMENT IMPLICATIONS Five teams have already clinched spots in the six-team 2018 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament. There is one spot left to fill. Tiffin currently owns possession of sixth place and leads Purdue Northwest by one game. Purdue Northwest hosts Davenport for a four-game series this weekend, while Tiffin travels to Ashland this weekend for a four-game series as well. Tiffin owns the tie-breaker as the Dragons took three out of four games against Purdue Northwest back on April 27-29. The GLIAC Tournament is held at Detroit PAL Corner at the Ballpark in Detroit, Mich., and will run from May 10-13 with the tournament being double-elimination format.

LAST TIME OUT The Purdue Northwest baseball team dropped the final game of its GLIAC series with Tiffin by a score of 5-4 last Sunday afternoon at Heminger Field in Tiffin, Ohio. Junior Kyle Flessner (Thomasboro, Ill./Kankakee CC/Rantoul Township) suffered the loss (1-4) as the starter Sunday pitching the first 4.2 innings and allowing nine hits, four runs (two earned) and two walks with three strikeouts.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS Davenport is coming off a series against Ashland. The Panthers are coming off a sweep against Ashland on April 26-28. The Panthers are led by redshirt senior Zac Wilson, who is hitting .380 with 63 hits, 13 doubles, 36 runs scored, eight home runs and 44 RBI. On the mound, DU is led by senior Andrew Click, who owns a 5-1 record with a 3.14 ERA. Click has thrown 51.2 innings and has struck out 47 batters.

SERIES HISTORY This weekend marks the first four meetings between the two baseball programs.

PRIDE LEADERS PNW is led by sophomore Hunter Thorn (Portage, Ind./Portage), who is hitting .319, 44 hits, 22 runs scored, six doubles, four triples and 18 RBI. On the mound, the Pride are led by Brandon Haczynski (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point), who owns a 1.40 ERA with three saves. Haczynski has thrown 25.2 innings and recorded 18 strikeouts.