The Purdue North Central baseball team defeated the PNC Baseball Alumni 11-0 Saturday afternoon in Westville. The Panthers now lead the series 7-1 with the only blip coming in a one-run contest in 2010.
Although, this year's theme was Aching But Raking, the Alumni struggled to string their hits together to provide much run support for a porous defense. And when they did there were 13 strikeouts and a sound defensive effort from the Panthers to end run-scoring opportunities.
The Panthers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Sophomore Eddie Moldenhauer was hit by a pitch and senior Anthony Olund reached by error before senior Ched Gaskin, a 2nd Team All-American at catcher last season, connected on a three-run bomb to right field.
The Panthers scored six more runs in the second to effectively put the game out of reach. Three errors, a walk by senior Greg Toliver, a single apiece by Moldenhauer and senior Spencer Anderson and multiple wild pitches led to the outburst.
PNC added two more runs in the seventh inning. Junior Trevor Williams led off with a walk and eventually scored on sacrifice fly by senior Justin Hunt. Senior Brian Mazurek hit a two-out double and came around on a wild pitch.
Overall, the Alumni collected 7 singles, 3 walks and a hit batter while the Panthers collected 11 runs on 8 hits, 5 walks and 4 hit batters. The Alumni committed 4 costly errors while the Panthers had two.
Gaskin had the big blow while Moldenhauer was the only Panther with multiple hits. Toliver reached three times on walks. Nearly the entire Panther team was replaced by substitutions in the in the sixth inning.
Nine different pitchers threw for the Panthers with juniors Layton White and Kevin Gates both striking out the side. The top defensive play was tuned in by Anderson when he threw out Casey young (2009) at the plate with an exceptional throw from centerfield in the 4th inning.
Nate Hall (2012) and Ryan Frost (2011) collected five hits for the Alumni with Frost leading the way with 3.
The Alumni were once again coached by Hall of Fame coach Larry Blake Sr.. Other Hall of Famers in attendance included Larry Blake Jr., Chris Stocker (2008), Tom Albano (2008) and Steve Georgion (2007). Former professional players back for the game included Georgion, Shane Prance (2012) and Chris Schultz (2009).
The next alumni game is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 28th, 2013.
