CARBONDALE, Ill. – IUPUI got back on track with two wins on Saturday (March. 7), beating Northern Illinois and Western Illinois behind two great outings in the circle. Lexi Lucas earned a win allowing just two runs against the Huskies and Kayana Diederich followed that with a complete game shutout against Western Illinois to close out the night.
Rachael Gregory finished the day with a team-high three hits and Jordan Barnes joined Gregory in driving in two runs on the day.
IUPUI 4, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 2
The Jags picked up their first win of the weekend with a two-run victory over Northern Illinois. Rachael Gregory drove in two runs for the Jags and Lexi Lucas threw a complete game for her second win of the season.
IUPUI got things going early with two runs in the first. After a groundout to start the inning, McKenzie Loge walked and moved to second on a two-out single by Amber Pagan. Both runners moved up on a passed ball and Gregory delivered, bringing home both with a single down the line in left.
The Jags doubled their lead in the second as Delainey Turner singled and advanced on an error by Northern's third baseman. Two batters later, again with two outs, Speth doubled bringing home Turner. Loge followed with a single to score Speth and make it 4-0.
That was enough for Lucas, who threw the complete game, giving up just two runs and scattering six hits, while striking out three. In both the first and third innings, the Huskies doubled but Lucas was able to strand the runner. NIU finally got to Lucas in the fifth with a solo home run with two outs but the sophomore buckled down and got a fly out to Speth in left to end the inning.
The Huskies got two runners on in the sixth with two outs and a double steal earned them another run to cut in to the Jags lead but after a walk, Lucas induced a pop up to short to end the threat. Lucas then sat the Huskies down in order in the seventh to earn the win.
IUPUI 2, WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
In the night cap, it was Diederich's time to shine in the circle. The freshman threw a complete game shutout, the first of her career, to guide IUPUI over Western Illinois as the Jags finished with just two hits. Diederich also struck out a career-high seven batters in the win.
Western Illinois was the first to get a runner in to scoring position after a stolen base with two outs in the third put a runner on second, but a flyout to Loge in center ended the threat.
IUPUI then took advantage of a big error by the Leathernecks in the top of the fourth. The Jags earned their first hit of the game with a one-out single by Delaney Thompson. Amber Pagan walked to put two runners on and Mandy Dallas and Megan Overton were put in the game to pinch run as head coach Elisabeth Beirne knew runs were going to be at a premium.
A groundout by Gregory moved both runners up 60 feet and Barnes stepped to the plate looking to get the zeros off the scoreboard. On a ground ball in the infield, a missed catch by the first baseman allowed both runners to score and IUPUI took a 2-0 lead.
Diederich then retired the next seven batters before giving up a single in the bottom of the sixth. With the tying run at the plate, Diederich got back-to-back flyouts to Thompson and Loge to end the frame.
IUPUI had another chance in the seventh to put more runs on the board but Diederich struck out swinging with runners on second and third to head to the bottom of the seventh.
Diederich got the first batter to strike out before getting a groundout to Turner at shortstop for out number two. A pop up to Turner was snagged to close out the game and gave IUPUI its first shutout of the season.
UP NEXT
IUPUI will close out the weekend in Carbondale with two games on Sunday (March 8). The Jags will start with a game against Northern Illinois at 1:15 p.m. ET before taking on host Southern Illinois at 5:45 p.m. ET.
