It was an epic but untraditional pitchers duel Tuesday in Kalamazoo, Mich., as Northwestern and Western Michigan sent eleven different pitchers to the mound at Hyames Field.
Five NU pitchers made appearances, and Western Michigan threw six hurlers – most of them left-handed – in the three-and-a-half hour, 13-inning game, which the Broncos (18-20) won 3-2.
“It was a baseball fan’s game,” NU head coach Paul Stevens said. “It wasn’t for those people who like to see eight home runs and a ton of hits. It was one of your good old-fashioned baseball games.”
The game stagnated at a 2-2 tie from the top of the fifth until the bottom of the 13th.
The Cats’ Tuesday opponents usually try to conserve pitching for weekend league games, so seeing a handful of pitchers is nothing new for NU (19-24). But seeing four lefties was, as Cats center fielder David Gresky put it, “a little bit ridiculous.”
“We saw more left-handers than we had in a long time,” Stevens said. “It’s always rough seeing somebody new every time, and they were using weekend guys in later innings.
“It was a situation where you’ve got to go up there and get your hacks. We didn’t get enough timely hits.”
Jason Krynski was the only NU player with two hits, and the Cats had difficulty moving runners into scoring position. Both the Cats’ runs were unearned, coming on wild pitches. Control was an issue for Western Michigan throughout the day as five NU batters were hit by pitches.
The Cats’ pitching, on the other hand, worked its way out of several sticky situations. Western Michigan left a whopping 21 on base and ended three innings with the bases loaded.
“They left 10 times more guys on base than we did,” Cats first baseman Travis Tharp said. “That’s really a credit to our pitchers.”
Andy “Ace” Adams started the game for NU and went 5 2/3 innings, giving up two runs on four hits. Zach Schara came in to get the last out of the sixth, facing only two batters. The seventh through 13th innings saw a succession of NU freshmen, including Evan Blesoff, J.A. Happ and Jon Mikrut.
Blesoff pitched the final four innings, giving up three hits and the game-ending run.
“We got some good work on the mound,” Stevens said. “Ace threw five great innings, and Blesoff, who got the loss, threw four good innings. He did a very respectable job.”
The Cats played solid defense to back up the pitching effort. NU’s only error, a misplayed ball by third baseman Steve Haake in the second inning, ended up being insignificant.
More noteworthy was a defensive play at the fence by David Gresky to force the game into extra innings.
In the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied 2-2, Gresky leaped and stretched his glove over the center-field fence to take away what would have been homer No. 14 for Western Michigan’s Chad Tarpley.
“I think it would have gone over,” Gresky said. “(Right fielder Brandon) Ackley said it definitely would have. I just went back on it and I was able to get underneath it.”
Gresky said he was excited at the time, but in the end it didn’t matter as much as he would have liked.
“It could have been a bigger play than it was if we had gotten some hits later,” Gresky said.
