After Northwestern dropped three of four to Penn State last weekend, NU pitcher Dan Konecny called the 12-hour bus ride back from State College, Pa., one of the worst experiences of his life.
A lot of that had to do with the 34 men the Wildcats left on base while scoring only 11 runs the entire weekend.
One week later, Illinois left a total of 40 men on base for the weekend en route to being swept by NU. The Fighting Illini were outscored 21-12 despite collecting the same number of base hits as the Cats.
That’s why Konecny and the rest of the team know how Illinois feels right about now — and they don’t have a whole lot of pity.
“They’ve got a long bus trip ahead of them, and they’re going to be thinking the whole time about how close they were in all of the games,” Konecny said. “I mean, we were in the same spot last weekend, but I don’t really care about how they feel right now.”
The series showed the resilience of an NU squad learning its lesson from an unsatisfying week of baseball. After the disappointment at Penn State, the Cats’ midweek loss to Valparaiso was marred by 13 runners left stranded.
“This sweep was huge — any time there’s a sweep it’s huge,” Konecny said. “But this weekend especially, we showed that we have the ability to learn from our mistakes.”
The frustration of the Illini batters increased as the weekend dragged on. Aside from blowing a four-run lead in the late innings of Friday’s opener, Illinois blew a critical opportunity to salvage the last game of the series — even with a little help from NU.
With the score tied 3-3 in the top of the ninth, NU left fielder Dan Pohlman dropped a well-struck fly ball by lead-off man Andy Schutzenhofer. The error allowed Schutzenhofer to advance to second with the heart of the batting order due up.
But on the mound, sophomore Jon Mikrut — who usually does his damage from the batter’s box as the team’s leading hitter — showed why he is considered one of the Big Ten’s more prominent two-way players.
Three routine fly balls later, a dejected Illinois squad was back in the dugout after blowing another chance to turn its fortunes around.
“As both a hitter and a closer, I’m pretty used to the situation of having men on base in a critical situation,” Mikrut said. “If I were Illinois right now, I’d feel horrible — it’s a tough spot to be in. But we showed today that we can be clutch on both sides.”
In a weekend full of complete games and solid starting pitching, Mikrut shined the brightest in the two tightly games of the weekend. The late-inning reliever emerged from the four-game set having allowed no hits in 2 1/3 innings pitched while earning a win.
“Guys like Mikrut are so underrated for what they do,” sophomore pitcher J.A. Happ said. “They just walk up to the mound in tough situations and they get the job done — they’re great.”
So while the Illini drove back to Champaign with nothing to show for the weekend but a lot of regrets, the Cats stroll back to campus with a renewed sense of achievement.
“I take my hat off to those boys for the way they pitched this weekend,” coach Paul Stevens said. “All of them, they pitched with pure heart.”
