The Northwestern Tigers will challenge the West Lafayette Red Devils at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. Northwestern will be looking to extend their current four-game winning streak.
Northwestern is headed into the match having just posted their closest win since April 2nd on Wednesday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 4-2 victory over Manchester.
Northwestern's win was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was William Rees, who went 1-for-2 with one stolen base and one run.
Meanwhile, after only two runs in their last contest, West Lafayette made sure to put some runs up on the board against Rensselaer Central on Tuesday. The Red Devils blew past the Bombers 10-2. With that victory, the Red Devils brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.
Ben Werth was a major factor no matter where he played. On the mound, he didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out eight over four innings pitched. He also tossed no earned runs, which is notable because West Lafayette is undefeated when he allows at most one earned run, but 4-6 otherwise. Werth was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with two runs.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Joe Doty, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, and one stolen base. That's the most doubles he has posted since back in May of 2024. Fischer Trosky also deserves some recognition as he brought in his first RBI of the season.
West Lafayette is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games. That's provided a massive bump to their 8-6 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.2 runs on average over those games. As for Northwestern, their victory bumped their record up to 13-4.
Everything went Northwestern's way against West Lafayette in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, as Northwestern made off with a 19-3 win. Do the Tigers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Red Devils turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
