MINNEAPOLIS – After Northwestern won its first two games at the Big Ten tournament with outstanding performances on the mound, Ohio State and Minnesota pitched the Wildcats out of the championship game, defeating NU 5-2 and 11-5 on Friday and Saturday.
Between J.A. Happ’s discomfort on the mound Friday and Ryan Bos’ sore shoulder Saturday – not to mention strong performances from the Buckeyes’ E.J. Laratta and Golden Gophers’ Dan Anderson – the Cats were overmatched in their final two games.
Happ, who started Friday’s game against eventual-champion Ohio State, was uneasy on the hill from the start. After loading the bases with no outs, Happ signaled to the umpire that there was a ditch in the mound. The freshman right-hander looked much better after a five-minute delay, during which the grounds crew added dry dirt to the hill, but he didn’t escape the inning unscathed, as the Buckeyes scored twice.
“I felt fortunate to get off the hook with only two runs with the bases loaded and no outs,” NU coach Paul Stevens said. “You could tell (the mound) really bothered him, but he settled down and did a pretty good job of keeping his composure.”
Backed by excellent defensive play, Happ threw four scoreless innings before giving up back-to-back home runs to Ohio State sluggers Doug Dendinger and Terry Pettorini in the sixth. Happ was relieved in the seventh by sophomore Dan Konecny, who struck out Dendinger to end another Ohio State rally.
Konecny, who hadn’t pitched since April 20 because of mononucleosis, pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings.
Although Konecny was able to shut the Buckeyes down late in the game, Ohio State pitcher E.J. Laratta kept the Cats’ bats quiet in key situtions. Catcher Ken Padgett was NU’s only source of RBIs – the first on a solo shot to left in the second and the next on a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
“Laratta did a good job,” first baseman Travis Tharp said. “He’s always done a good job of mixing up his pitches. He’s been criticized a little this year for being inconsistent, but he had his stuff on Friday.”
Laratta went the distance for Ohio State and was named to the all-tournament team.
On Saturday – two days later than originally planned – NU pitcher Ryan Bos took the mound in the Cats’ must-win game against Minnesota. The winner of the game would go on to face Ohio State in the championship.
Throwing through pain in his shoulder, the senior left hander went four innings, giving up five runs on six hits before being succeeded by the other three seniors on the Cats’ staff.
Andy Adams, entering the game in the fifth inning with two runners on and no outs, got out of the inning without any further damage. Adams was relieved in the sixth by Schara, who was throwing on two days’ rest.
“Once you fall behind, there’s no worrying about conserving,” Stevens said. “Schara was begging for the ball as soon as Bos realized (his shoulder) was tight. I don’t even think he realized he was on two days rest.”
Schara struggled through the remainder of the sixth and the first four Buckeyes batters of the seventh, clearly not at full strength. When Schara left the game in the seventh, the score was 11-5.
Minnesota freshman Dan Anderson earned his first career win, giving up just two hits in 5 1/3 innings.
The Golden Gophers went on to lose 6-2 to Ohio State in the championship game.
The Cats, who just barely qualified for the tournament, came in third – their best finish in the tournament since it was adopted in 1982.
Pitcher Gabe Ribas was selected to the all-tournament team for his eight strong innings against Michigan State on Wednesday and 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief Saturday.
“It’s not like we were loaded with a bunch of guys that were all-this and all-that,” Stevens said. “We were just a bunch of blue-collar guys that went out there and left it all out on the field.”
