From the first day of practice in the fall, the Northwestern baseball team set its sights on a Big Ten tournament appearance.
And despite some stretches of inconsistency, the Wildcats (30-27, 13-17 Big Ten) earned that coveted tournament berth — and could be on the brink of making it an annual affair.
It was the best NU season in recent memory. The tournament berth was NU’s first since 1995, and the team’s 30 wins and six All-Big Ten selections were the most since that year.
Among those six Cats were the three starting pitchers that formed the core of this year’s team. Sophomores Zach Schara (8-4, 2.71 ERA) and Gabe Ribas (7-3, 3.29 ERA) and senior Dan Padgett (6-2, 3.45 ERA) took turns dominating games and keeping the Cats in others.
“It all started with Zach, who is one of the best competitors and best leaders that I know,” senior Pat Thompson said. “The effort that he gives is remarkable. Then to be able to follow him with Gabe and Dan — two guys that go right after you and leave everything out on the field — the starters were just outstanding all year.”
That consistency was not something that applied to the team as a whole. NU looked like an elite team going 8-1 over Spring Break and taking three of four from Purdue in May.
But the Cats looked subpar in losing three of four against Iowa and dropping midweek games against Chicago State, Northern Illinois, and Division II schools Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis.
Still, the Cats were a team to be reckoned with on any given weekend, and the six All-Big Ten selections proved it.
Schara was joined on the first-team by junior shortstop Jeremy Kurella, who started all 55 games for NU, batting .345 with a team-high 115 total bases and a conference-high 40 stolen bases.
Ribas was the lone NU representative on the second team, while Padgett, junior catcher Joe Hietpas and senior outfielder Bob Dainton received third-team honors. Dainton hit .359 and started 52 games for the Cats. Hietpas led NU with a .381 average, five home runs and 50 RBIs. He was happy to be chosen, but some felt his third-team nod wasn’t honor enough.
“Hietpas was the best catcher I’d seen all year on any team,” freshman Brandon Ackley said. “He batted almost .400 and he was a threat behind the plate as well as at it. I think he kind of got robbed.”
In his first year on the team, Ackley and his five freshmen classmates were active participants while making their first trip around the Big Ten.
Ackley started 51 games in the outfield, and the other freshmen played significant roles at pitcher, first base, third base, catcher and in the outfield.
“It’s a very similar situation here every year in that we always have freshmen that come in and have to play key roles and this year was no different,” Hietpas said. “They did a very good job and you’ll be hearing a lot about them next season.”
And the Cats are eagerly awaiting the start to next year. With Schara and Ribas leading the team, the talented class of freshmen turning into sophomores, and the return of a strong group of veterans, a Big Ten tournament berth might become a norm instead of an exception.
“With the players we have coming back and the taste of making the tournament in our mouths, we’re expecting to make the tournament again and give ourselves a chance to do even more,” Ackley said. “We’re going to expect victory next season.”
