The Northwestern baseball team played its first doubleheader of the season a few weeks earlier than expected, as thunderstorms and 50 mile-per-hour winds forced the Wildcats to push Saturday’s game against St. Louis to Sunday.
Despite playing two games at the Billiken Sports Center in St. Louis on Sunday, the highlight of the three-game series – the Cats (4-6) won two of the contests – occurred in Friday’s opening game.
Senior Zach Schara gave up just one hit while pitching all nine innings in NU’s 4-0 victory over the Billikens (8-2).
Schara struck out six and walked one to hand St. Louis its first loss of the year.
“It was an awfully, awfully impressive outing to witness,” NU head coach Paul Stevens said. “It was as good as I’ve seen him pitch since he’s been here.”
Schara’s pitching was complemented by a strong offensive performance from second baseman Eric Roeder, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI, and by the Cats’ error-free defense.
“Our defense looked good in general,” Schara said. “We called the ball really well and we didn’t have any lapses in energy.”
The Cats had all of Saturday to recover before squaring off against the Billikens again on Sunday, this time with senior Ryan Bos on the mound.
Bos gave up eight hits in six innings, and St. Louis took a 4-2 lead into the seventh. Sophomore pitcher Dan Konecny relieved Bos in the bottom of the frame and, despite giving up five hits, didn’t allow a run the rest of the game.
But offensively, NU couldn’t catch up to St. Louis. Brandon Ackley’s solo shot over the left field fence in the top of the ninth wasn’t enough to spark a late rally, and the Cats lost 4-3.
NU took a quick break before returning to the field for the second game of the day.
“Coach said to us on the bus that this will help us prepare for Saturday doubleheaders in the Big Ten,” Schara said. “It was mentally and physically challenging. We had to prove that we could be focused for seven hours instead of four.”
Despite falling behind early in the seven-inning contest, NU kept its focus and produced runs late in the game.
St. Louis jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, but the Cats responded with two runs in the fifth and another three in the sixth to pull out the victory, 6-4.
Catcher Ken Padgett’s solo home run in the second inning put NU on the scoreboard early, and Travis Tharp’s triple down the right-field line in the fifth inning drove in two more runs.
St. Louis had two passed balls in the sixth inning, and the Cats were able to capitalize on the free chances. An infield single by pinch-hitter Pat McMahon and a fielder’s choice by Padgett advanced the runners, and a pinch-hit single from David Gresky drove home Padgett and pinch-runner Andy Adams.
One out later, Gresky stole second and was driven home by a Steve Haake single to bring NU’s scoring total to six runs.
“Our offense was a collective effort,” Stevens said. “Quite a few guys got clutch hits. People were getting themselves on base and in position to have somebody drive them home.”
Senior pitcher Gabe Ribas started the second Sunday game for the Cats and recorded his first victory of the season.
Freshman James Happ and sophomore Dan Pohlman each threw a hitless inning at the end of the game, with Pohlman recording his second save of the year.
“Those two guys did an outstanding job closing the door on them,” Stevens said.
