Northwestern baseball coach Paul Stevens said he planned to start a new business last week.
He thought he could make money renting out his team to places that need rain, because wherever the Wildcats go, storm clouds seem to follow.
After the Cats (10-10, 3-3 Big Ten) played only two of their four scheduled games this weekend, Stevens could have been a rich man.
Bad weather caused NU to cancel its Friday and Saturday games at Michigan State before the teams split a Sunday doubleheader.
“On Saturday, there were no facilities or batting cages available,” Stevens said. “So all we could do was sit back and catch up on our sleep.”
But by the time Sunday came around, the sky cleared up and the Cats and Spartans (6-18, 1-5) shook the dust off their bats and took to the field in East Lansing, Mich.
In game one, Michigan State came back from a 2-0 deficit to steal its first conference victory of the season, winning 3-2.
NU came back in the second contest to shut out the Spartans 3-0 behind the pitching of sophomore J.A. Happ.
The first score of the day came on senior right fielder Brandon Ackley’s home run in the second inning, which brought in senior catcher Ken Padgett.
But the Spartans struck back in the third. NU pitcher Dan Konecny walked Michigan State’s Jim Deliz, who scored three batters later.
Michigan State star pitcher Bryan Gale held NU to two hits for the rest of the game, but the Spartans were far from finished offensively.
Despite three Michigan State errors in the sixth, the Cats did not score. In the bottom of the inning, the Spartans grabbed a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish.
“That first game slipped away from us,” Happ said. “We could easily have won them both.”
With men on the corners and one out in the seventh, the Cats could not tie the score.
“We didn’t get some key hits in some key positions,” Stevens said. “We didn’t execute some sacrifice bunts we needed and we were left with runners in scoring position.”
Not wanting to make excuses for the Cats’ inadequate play, Happ and his teammates accepted the blame for the first game but don’t think the unexpected Saturday off helped.
“It’s hard to come this far and then have to sit in a hotel room all day, ” Happ said.
Fortunately for NU, game two was all Happ. The southpaw struck out eight and allowed two hits while pitching the full seven innings.
“I felt maybe a bit of pressure pitching that second game,” Happ said. “I needed to come out and change things.”
Happ avoided the 30-degree weather by sitting in the bus before the game. Overall, Stevens said he is disappointed in the weekend trip, not only because of the rainouts, but because his team wasted golden opportunities in the first game to win. However, he looks to the fact that his team still boasts a .500 record.
“Happ’s pitching and the team’s solid defense put us in an advantageous position,” Stevens said. “We got the job done.”
