Three members of the Valparaiso University baseball team left the yard with home runs on Tuesday afternoon at Rocky Miller Park in Evanston, Ill., but the host Wildcats prevailed 13-9 as the two teams dodged the storms enough to play the game to its completion despite temperatures starting warm pregame and declining throughout the contest. This continued a busy stretch of baseball with Valpo playing six games in a seven-day span.
 
How It Happened

• After making SportsCenter's Top 10 plays on Monday evening, junior Brayden Pleau (Appleton, Wis. / Kimberly) had another nifty catch in the first, right after Javin Gauthier (De Pere, Wis. / De Pere) made a nice play to track down a pop fly to shallow right. However, Northwestern took an early lead on a two-out, solo shot by Ryan Kucherak.
• Valpo used both power and small ball in the top of the second. The Beacons got even as Pleau laid down a squeeze bunt to score George Betevis (Hanover Park, Ill. / Bartlett) from third. Next, a rocket off the bat of Case Sullivan (Carmel, Ind. / Carmel) sailed over the left-field wall to put the Brown & Gold ahead 4-1. The distance was measured at 356 feet.
• Northwestern got a run back in the bottom of the third, as Jackson Freeman hit the team's second solo homer of the day to make it 4-2.
• The Wildcats scored twice in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double and run-scoring bouncer to get even.
• Redshirt junior Thomas Cooper (Brentwood, Tenn. / Ravenwood) crushed one 423 feet to right center in the top of the fifth, putting the Beacons back ahead at 5-4.
• Northwestern scored four in the bottom of the fifth including a go-ahead, three-run homer. The Wildcats added single tallies in the sixth and seventh to extend the lead to 10-5.
• Pleau poked a double to right in the top of the eighth, moving the Beacons a step closer at 10-6. NU responded with three in the bottom of the eighth to make it 13-6.
• Betevis ripped a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to get Valpo within four, which stood as the final deficit. That one sailed 385 feet.

Inside the Game

• Sullivan's home run was his first of the season after he hit seven last season, his first year in a Valpo uniform.
• Cooper's dinger was his fifth of the season, all in the last 10 games after he had none in the first 12. He has exceeded last season's home run total and moved his career number to nine.
• Betevis homered for the second time in the last three games, lifting his season home run total to three and his career total to 26.
• Pleau, Cooper and Gavin Bennett (Libertyville, Ill. / Libertyville) had two hits apiece. Bennett has reached safely in 13 consecutive contests.
• The Beacons tied a season high with three home runs, matching March 22 at Murray State.

Up Next
The Beacons (7-17) will fly to Seattle for a three-game, weekend series at Washington that begins at 9 p.m. CT on Thursday night. The game will air on B1G+.