Northwestern baseball coach Paul Stevens tries to keep his list of probable weekend starters under lock and key. He doesn’t like to tell anyone – even the day before the game – because he doesn’t want to tip off the competition.
But in this weekend’s pivotal home series against Iowa, Stevens isn’t pulling any punches. It will be his four core starters: Zach Schara, Mike Nall, Gabe Ribas and Ryan Bos.
Stevens hopes his big guns can vault the Wildcats (18-24, 6-10 Big Ten) into postseason play. The Cats are currently one game behind Illinois for a tournament berth with three weekends left in the conference regular season.
Stevens has experimented with his starting rotation at several points this year, using hurlers that usually pitch out of the bullpen for spot starts in midweek nonconference games. But NU needs to win at least three games this weekend to stay in legitimate contention for the Big Ten tournament, and Stevens is turning to his veterans.
While NU was still working out the kinks earlier in the season – trying different lineups, moving players out of their traditional positions in the field – they were also playing the bottom of the Big Ten. A lot of losses earlier in the season might not have happened now, since his players are settled into their new spots, Stevens said.
“That’s all water under the bridge, there isn’t anything I can do about that,” he said of his team’s key losses to the teams at the bottom of the conference. “If we pitch the way we’re capable of and hit the ball the way we have been, we can run with any dog right now.”
Stevens knows that the road beyond Iowa is a challenging one. After this weekend, the Cats take on fourth-place Penn State and conference-leading Minnesota, both on the road.
“Have we gotten every key hit? Hell, no,” Stevens said. “But these guys aren’t getting paid 10, 15, 20 million dollars. We have more guys healthy right now than all season, and I feel like we’re really in a good position.”
FRESH POWER: Centerfielder Steve Haake was chosen as the Northwestern male athlete of the week after hitting .438 last weekend.
In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader in East Lansing, Mich., Haake went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Haake and teammates Jason Krynski and David Gresky chipped in with the bats all weekend to help NU earn a split.
Krynski, a leftfielder, smacked a grand slam Saturday night and Gresky hit the first home run of his collegiate career over the weekend.
“Last time I saw, the freshmen stopped being freshmen in fall ball,” Stevens said Sunday. “They’re part of a team.”
STANDRING AND DELIVER: NU reliever and punter for the football team J.J. Standring hung with baseball during all four weeks of spring football practice, and it finally paid off last week.
He didn’t take part in Randy Walker’s spring game, but instead throwing the final two innings in NU’s 11-5 win over Michigan State in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, and he has been getting progressively more work since returning from a shoulder injury.
Stevens said Standring could also see work this weekend, giving a boost to the Cats’ bullpen.
Two seasons ago, Standring went 7-3 as a starter in NU’s four-man rotation. He returned from the injury to pitch 2/3 inning of relief against Indiana two weeks ago. Although the Cats lost that game 5-3, Stevens said he was impressed with Standring, who struck out a batter in his brief appearance.
