After dropping the fourth game of its series with Purdue Sunday afternoon, Northwestern baseball coach Paul Stevens sat in his dugout, waiting for his players to finish rolling the tarp out onto the field.
Pitcher Gabe Ribas approached Stevens in the corner and dropped his arms around the coach in a weary, silent hug.
“There was nothing to be said,” Ribas said. “It’s a simple game: You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. And if you don’t do those things well, you’re not going to win. … There’s one thing that you can control in this game, and that’s how hard you work. I think all that was said without saying anything between me and coach.”
There wasn’t much either could say after the Wildcats lost all four games this weekend, extending Purdue’s winning streak to 10 games and dropping their own Big Ten record to a conference-worst 1-7.
The Cats’ pitching staff served up 43 runs on 66 hits – more offense than NU’s bats produced in the entire first month of the season. NU (12-20, 1-7 Big Ten) also helped out Purdue’s run-scoring clinic by committing 10 errors.
But more costly than the big numbers were the big innings.
NU kept pace with the Boilermakers (15-14, 8-2) in each of the games, and even led the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader 4-0 at one point. But Purdue came up with a timely rally to bust the game open and scar the Cats with a final score that ended up looking like a blowout.
“We just have to find a way to stop the bleeding,” Stevens said. “I’m going to the training room to see if they have anything that can thicken the blood so it will coagulate faster into a scab and we can get some healing here.”
In Sunday’s 10-3 loss, Purdue had no one on and two outs in the fifth inning when NU pitcher Zach Schara surrendered six singles and a walk. The five-run frame put the Boilermakers up 8-0 and all but ended the game.
Purdue also batted around in the fifth inning of Game 2, using another five-spot to break open a 3-3 tie. The Cats couldn’t recover and ended up losing 9-5.
But the most disappointing moment for the Cats came when they took a lead into the fifth inning of Game 3. Purdue then went through the order – and beyond – in each of the next three innings, scoring 18 runs.
“We have to not let the big inning hurt us and come back and put up another big inning ourselves,” Ribas said.
NU attempted to struggle back into Game 3, but Purdue added to its lead with each at-bat en route to a 20-11 victory.
Saturday’s brutal afternoon doubleheader finally ended at 7 p.m. after the teams put up a total of 45 runs and 65 hits.
When NU came out for the series finale Sunday, it had apparently exhausted the weekend’s offensive ammunition. The Cats managed only seven hits in the game and didn’t score until the eighth inning before losing 10-3.
But Stevens didn’t accept fatigue as an excuse for any of the woes from the long weekend.
“Back when you were a kid you put the glove and bat on the bicycle handles, you packed the peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” he said. “You were gone from eight in the morning until it was dark. And that’s a lot more than seven hours.”
NU catcher Joe Hietpas provided some consolation during the weekend. The team leader, who has struggled at the plate all season, knocked out two home runs against Purdue.
In Game 3, he launched the first pitch he saw from Purdue’s Dave Gassner over the rightfield wall, eliciting a standing ovation from the crowd.
“I know that kid real well – he and I played together for six years,” Hietpas said. “I was just looking for something straight and he threw a really fat pitch over the middle.”
Following each of his two home runs, the senior was greeted by the entire team at home plate.
Hietpas’ weekend, along with pitcher Mike Nall’s performance in Friday’s 4-2 loss, give the Cats some positives to build on as they continue the Big Ten schedule at home against Indiana next weekend.
“(Our play is) a far cry from what it was, and it’s getting more and more encouraging,” Stevens said. “I just hope it gets encouraging a little quicker.”
