The Northwestern baseball team stepped up when it needed to most, coming back from a three-run deficit to claw out a 4-3 victory over Purdue Monday.
The win at Purdue gave the Wildcats a two-game lead — and some much-needed breathing room — over Iowa for sixth place in the Big Ten. After a disappointing one-win weekend against the Hawkeyes last week, the Cats (28-23, 11-13 Big Ten) were perilously close to falling to seventh and out of a spot in the conference tournament.
Only the top six teams make the tournament.
“We knew we had to win, and that’s when we come with our best ball,” freshman Brandon Ackley said. “We weren’t going to give up at any cost this weekend. We put ourselves in a tough situation after Iowa and I think we showed a lot of heart this weekend. Some of the seniors and some of the leaders really stepped up and we just followed them.”
On Monday the Cats followed sophomore Zach Schara, who threw another complete-game victory.
Schara (8-4) was a victim of three unearned runs in the first inning after junior shortstop Jeremy Kurella committed an error, allowing Purdue’s leadoff hitter to get aboard. Three hits and a fielder’s choice later, the Cats were facing a three-run deficit.
But Schara kept his composure and shut the Boilermakers (31-20, 14-10) out the rest of the way.
Ackley said Schara’s presence on the mound reassured the team’s hitters that the game was still within reach.
“He’s been our go-to guy all season and it really helped knowing we had Zach on the mound,” Ackley said. “He’s got a mentality we all admire, which is that he’s not afraid of anyone. You can’t help but play your heart out for a guy like that.”
The confidence the offense had in Schara was mutual. He said the unearned runs didn’t affect him mentally and knew the offense was capable of putting together a run.
“After the first, I just knew that the next eight innings we were going to have to shut them down, and that’s what ended up happening,” Schara said.
“We’ve got a group of guys that can make a spark into a fire very easily, so I wasn’t worried. I focus on the pitching and let the guys take care of the rest.”
The Cats didn’t waste their time taking care of the deficit. NU scored four runs in the top of the second inning, and did so without any big blasts. The Cats loaded the bases on two singles and a hit batsman, and scored their runs on two singles and a sacrifice fly.
NU scored its four runs on only six hits, and Ackley said offensive efficiency was the key to the victory as it had been all weekend. Ackley had the game-winning hit in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, singling in fellow freshman Eric Roeder in the seventh inning for the 4-3 victory.
“We had a lot of guys execute in key situations with sac bunts and sac flies,” Ackley said. “When you have people on base you have to get the job done and do the little things right. I think we did that Monday and it ended up being enough.”
This weekend’s series win was significant because it put NU in good position to qualify for the Big Ten tournament, but also because it showed the team’s resiliency. Even in a 10-6 loss Sunday, the Cats showed some spark, chipping away at a 10-0 deficit by scoring their six runs in the final two innings.
“Man, we don’t give up,” Schara said. “I’ve seen that fight in our eyes this whole year. We know at any time we can snap and do some damage. When you win, things are going great. When you lose, times are horrible — life is horrible.”
Despite living the good life, NU will have no time to rest, hosting Valparaiso (11-34-1) Tuesday. NU dominated the last meeting, winning 16-5. Don’t expect the Cats to rest on their laurels though.
With just one Big Ten weekend remaining before the possible tournament appearance, Schara said NU will keep its intensity up as it has all season.
“Every day we come out to play ball and we come out hard,” Schara said. “The way we perform in the midweek games dictates how we’ll play that weekend, so if we can get another win under our belts rolling into Penn State it’ll do nothing but help us.”
