GAME INFORMATION
Final Score: Northwestern 9, Loyola 1 (6 inn.)
Records: NU (20-23); LUC (20-23)
Location: Sharon Drysdale Field -- Evanston, Ill.
Pitchers of Record: W: Amy Letourneau (9-9); L: Madison Hope (2-5)
Stats: Box Score

In Short...
Host Northwestern broke the game open with four runs in the fifth and used a sixth-inning home run to complete a 9-1 (6 inn.) victory over Loyola on a rainy afternoon at Drysdale Field in Evanston.

How It Happened
+ Third baseman Brie Pasquale turned a beautiful unassisted double play on a liner with the bases loaded to keep Northwestern off the scoreboard in the first inning
+ However, the Wildcats broke through in the second, tallying three runs, with the final two coming on a two-out base hit
+ Loyola had a chance in the top of the third to get on the board, with Hope getting the Ramblers started with a one-out single
+ Centerfielder Sabrina Rabin made a nice catch on an Erica Nagel drive for the second out of the inning and Brooke Wilson kept the inning going with a single before a fielders choice ended the threat
+ Northwestern made it 4-0 with a single run in the fourth before the Ramblers broke through in the top of the fifth
+ Wilson ripped her second single of the game with two outs before Jamie O'Brien drilled a base hit to right-center, with a bobble by the rightfielder and heads up baserunning by Wilson allowing the freshman to come all the way around to score
+ However, Andrea Filler led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run to jumpstart a four-run inning and she returned to the plate with one out in the sixth and hit another homer to end the ballgame

Inside The Box Score
+ Wilson had two of the Ramblers five hits with Hope, O'Brien and LaCivita also hitting safely
+ Nagel hit the ball hard all three times up but had nothing to show for it, as Rabin came up with three nice plays in center to retire her on each occasion
+ O'Brien's base hit extended her hitting streak to a season-best six games
+ This marked Wilson's eighth multi-hit game of the season, fourth-most on the squad behind Nagel, Brooke Wyderski and Katie Kasubke

Next Up
Loyola carries a two-game, MVC winning streak into this weekend's series at Bradley. The series opens with a doubleheader at Noon in Peoria.